Jolene: A Mindbender Series
by KeshaRocks
Summary: Hadrian may be gone, but the fight's not over. Things take an unexpected turn when an incredibly beautiful woman comes to the village. Upon meeting, she practically starts to throw herself to Hiccup. But something's not right. The more Hiccup starts to fall for her, the more distant he becomes. Who is this woman, and what does she want with Hiccup?
1. Chapter 1

The foundation of Hiccup's house shook as Toothless pounds at the roof, roaring for him to wake up. Small dusts and dirt clouds bleed through the cracks, sprinkling around Hiccup's floor. Irritated, Hiccup pulls his quilt up over his head; as if thinking that Toothless could somehow see him, and stop. But that's never the case. Finally, Hiccup sighs in aggravation and kicks the covers off. He grabs a fleece before stepping outside, where winter has settled its blanket of snow for the season.

Several months have passed since Hiccup had defeated his dreaded Doppelganger Hadrian. Be that as it may, by force of habit, Hiccup had trouble sleeping for the first three weeks, expecting Hadrian to appear again and threaten his home and everyone he loves. But each night, Hiccup fell into a dreamless slumber. No disturbances, and no visitations. While he's glad to finally be rid of him, a small seed of sorrow sprouts, as Hadrian was somehow his connection to his deceased mother. Whenever Hiccup was in trouble by Hadrian, his mother would come and help him, or at least show him a way to fight back. But nothing has happened since Hiccup had trapped Hadrian inside a magical spell book belonging to Heather's grandmother. Then bounding him inside with a circle of salt, Hiccup has never seen Hadrian, or his mother since. Hiccup is despised at thinking that his enemy was his only solid link back to his mother.

Even with the fleece on, it does little to hold in the warmth of his bed as it immediately leaches into the air of the brittle cold. Winter in Berk lasts most of the year; it snows for nine months of the year, then hails the other three. The snow crunches under his feet as he makes his way around the side of the house, and finds his Night Fury Toothless sitting in the snow; Hiccup's saddle already pulled out, lying spread at his feet.

Hiccup straps on the saddle and hops aboard Toothless. "Ready bud?"

Toothless coos, and in a flap of Toothless' forty-foot wings, they're up in the air, surrounded by clouds. Sharp, icy snowflakes bite ay Hiccup's exposed skin as they zoom through – what would normally be considered a light falling of snow. The rising sun peeks over the horizon, bringing on the dawn of another new day. It's a whisper in the cold morning air as Hiccup leans Toothless to the right, making then tip to the side. They zip past a small mountain then level out as the view of the Academy comes into view. He can faintly make out Gobber as he pulls a wagon of weapons inside.

Heather's grandmother, or Grandmamma as she likes to be called, has long since moved into Mildew's old house on top of the hill outside of town. While Hiccup and his father have offered houses closer to Heather and her family, she insisted she stays up there. She explained how it gave her the perfect amount of room to test her spells and incantations. Heather and her family have also decided to remain in Berk, finding a permanent home within the Plaza of the village. Hiccup feels his cheeks warm as the thought of Heather comes to mind, then suddenly Astrid comes in too. Hiccup shakes his head as both pictures of Heather and Astrid didn't mix well together.

While the girls haven't been hammering Hiccup about choosing between one or the other, Hiccup still feels bad about almost making the girls wait on who he wishes to choose. Probably because there hasn't been any official clarification on who Hiccup really likes. He still hasn't kissed Heather, and even with the kisses he receives from Astrid the two still carry on their lives as friends. But when Hiccup really had the chance to think about it, his feelings for both girls seemed to have dwindles down. With everything that's happened, Hiccup really doesn't feel anything toward the girls. Perhaps his mind was just still occupied on Hadrian. Whatever the case, it bewildered Hiccup that he had suddenly lost his feelings for such beautiful girls. Toothless coos, catching Hiccup's attention. Hiccup looks ahead and sees Grandmamma's house come into view. Reminding him he had a magical session with her today.

Ever since she had helped Hiccup defeat Hadrian, Hiccup's learned to keep a more open mind about his beliefs in the magical realms. Before the first official snowfall of the season, Grandmamma had pulled Hiccup and Stoick aside, telling them about something important. She talked about how Hiccup's powers were that of something deeper than a simple given ability the realm of dreams. She said they were something more, and that Hiccup possibly possessed a great gift. She didn't say much about it, wanting to keep it under control until her theories were proven correct, whatever they may be. Hiccup was hesitant about going into magic, but after she explained about just doing a few simple tests, and learning a few spells to keep his powers leveled, Hiccup decided he had nothing to lose and agreed. Although his ability to control them left little to be desired. The last time they tried a spell, Hiccup had nearly set Grandmamma's kitchen table on fire.

"Practice makes perfect." She always said to him.

Hiccup takes a deep breath. "Alright bud. Let's get this over with." Then Hiccup leans forward and Toothless dives down landing in the old cabbage field outside the house.

The snow has begun to stick to Hiccup's feet as he leaves a trail of footprints behind him. At the front door, Hiccup pauses to stomp the wet stuff from his show and prostatic leg. He lightly knocks on the door and waits. While he rocks back and forth on the heels of his feet, he manages to catch his reflection in the icy frost on one of the wooden posts outside the front door. Hiccup looks to himself, and sighs.

Hiccup didn't think he looked that different until one day, as he was working in the blacksmith's shop, a man had come in asking his axe altered. Gobber was just finishing the final touches on a new shield. Hiccup agreed and had taken the weapon to the hearth. He had just pressed down on the fan pump when the man suddenly spoke.

"You know, you've definitely changed since the last time I remember you Hiccup."

Hiccup didn't think much of it, as Gobber suddenly jumped in, taking over Hiccup's task of fixing the sword. Hiccup merely smiled weakly to ensure Gobber he didn't find any offense to what the man said, but much more rather curiosity.

"What do you mean changed?" Hiccup questions as he walks over to the window of the shop, boosting himself up, crossing his legs.

The man kept his gaze on Gobber as he hammers away at the bright orange sword. Giving an odd, breathy laugh before speaking. "I mean, you just looked more, how do you say, tough."

Hiccup ponders over the words as sparks flew off the metal as it scrapes against the spinning stone.

The man speaks again. "I don't really know what happened between the two of you, but judging from those wounds and that look in your eyes, I'm guessing I don't want to."

Hiccup turns to him in confusion, but before he could ask any further questions, the man had already walked to Gobber taking his sword and exchanging a few coins for his service.

"Anyway, you have a nice day." Then he turns, sheathing his sword and walking on, not looking back.

Hiccup was left pondering over his appearance for the rest of that day. And when he got home, after washing his face before bed, he looked into the shield they kept in the bathroom, and Hiccup was startled. He did look different. And as for his yes, he can see why the man was acting unusual around him. They had this look, something of a predatory look. On edge, waiting for something to happen. On guard, intimidating. And his face and body were covered in scratches, wounds and cuts from his fierce battle with Hadrian. They were spread out across his body, claiming each section of skin as their own.

Hiccup blinks, snapping himself out of his trance. He catches himself staring at himself at the frosted wooden post. "So much has happened." He whispers to himself.

He hears the latch to the door jiggle and click, and Grandmamma swings the door wide open, smiling as she always does.

"Hiccup! Sweetie!" She cups his face and kisses both his cheeks before inviting him in. "Come in, come in before you freeze that little Viking tush of yours off!" she exclaims.

"You're in an awfully good mood." Hiccup says as he leaves his shoes on the mat near her front door.

"Oh it's the weather, honey. The gods have given us a beautiful blanket of snow this season." She expresses as she wanders over to her bookshelf.

"A blanket of ice more like it. It's really getting slippery out there." Hiccup says as he steps more into the house. Toothless coos as he walks over and brightens the fire in her fireplace by blowing a small spark into the wood.

"Oh I tell you, winter is my favorite time of year. When the snow covers everything, it's like a world of fragile things. The warm glow of life the village houses give off. Lit windows and smoke from chimneys."

Hiccup smiles as she pulls out two to three books. "Not to mention Snoggletog." Hiccup reminds them both. The annual holiday that comes along with the winter season. "So, what are we learning today?" he asks after warming his hands by the fire.

"Today, I will be training your mind." She answers as she places the book on the podium.

"Come again?"

"Today you will learn how to use your thoughts to give your spells power and energy." She explains as the book flips to a certain page all by itself after Grandmamma waves her hand over it.

"Are you sure? The last time I did this I nearly burned your kitchen down." Hiccup reminds with a smile.

"Oh don't worry about it sweetie. You're much better than the others I've taught. Oh let me tell you, this one boy, oy, couldn't tell a charm from a chakra." Grandmamma preaches.

Hiccup laughs as they get to work on the spells. This time it was better than he expected, as for one thing nothing caught on fire, and Hiccup could feel that spiritual connection Grandmamma was talking about when they first started. Grandmamma still refuses to reveal what about Hiccup's powers that has her so worried yet so excited. But not wanting to pry, Hiccup figures she'll tell him when she's ready, or until when she feels _he's_ ready. Hiccup flies home feeling more accomplished than before as he heads off to the Academy to begin his lesson with Gobber. Walking into the Academy, Hiccup was the last one to arrive and from what he could gather, Gobber had just gotten done explaining a list of survival skills and combat moves.

"Ah, Hiccup!" he exclaims as he turns his head noticing Hiccup. "Glad you made it. Take your spot and we'll begin our hand-to-hand combat practice.

Hiccup smiles as the Vikings spread out and ready themselves for whom Gobber will assign to fight. Hiccup has gained many points in combat practice lately, as his durability has increased dramatically after facing off against Hadrian. Gobber first assigns Snotlout and Tuffnut to battle first, and Hiccup can't help but smirk at the relief that comes across both of the boys' faces. While Snotlout and Tuffnut prep with a weapon of their choice, the others wait along the wall. Hiccup decides to take a seat while Astrid leans her back against the wall, arms folded. Fishlegs had gone to – most likely – fetch the book of dragons.

The two Vikings ready themselves, and Gobber raises his axe hand, and swings it down, initializing the start of the match. For a moment, both boys sway back and forth on the balls of their feet before Snotlout charges Tuffnut. After a few clangs of metal against metal, Hiccup quickly grows bored and gets to his feet. Aimlessly wandering toward the weapons rack, he traces his hand over a few of them before deciding to pick them up and test its weight. A knife, a sword, another sword with a thicker blade, a bludgeon, a hammer. By the time Hiccup had picked up a spear, Tuffnut was on the ground, hugging his middle, and Snotlout was cheering that annoying chant he did during the Thawfest Games. Hiccup rolls his eyes and puts back the spear, picking up a knife in its place. There was a small hole on the hilt, made for tying a rope through it and looping it to your belt. Hiccup pokes his finger through the hole and spins the knife around his finger.

"Alright Snotlout. We get it, you won. Now, you can either shut up, or I'll face you off against Hiccup." Gobber almost threatens.

Snotlout's voice suddenly cuts off and his gaze goes to Hiccup, still spinning the knife on his finger. Hiccup smirks. "No thank you." Snotlout whimpers before dropping the shield and scurrying over to join the other Vikings.

Gobber and Hiccup laugh in unison as Hiccup puts back the knife and joins the others. "Okay, now that we've got that settled, it's time to go over some flaws and mistakes to avoid in the future."

Following the lecture of today's combat practice, the lesson was then dismissed and Hiccup flies off to join his Dad in helping to cultivate the corn fields for winter. The corn had already been picked and washed, Hiccup and Stoick just needed to help peel the corn and send it off for delivery to the villagers. Hiccup finds Thornado outside the food storage and his father walking out carrying two huge wicker baskets.

"Need a hand?" Hiccup jokes as he takes one of the baskets.

"Thank you, son." He says. "It turns out they already go the job done, they just wanted us to pick these up."

"Oh, okay. Who are they for?" Hiccup asks.

"Us." Stoick answers. "I guess they just wanted to give us a gift for the holiday."

Hiccup smiles and straps the basket to Toothless' saddle before he and Stoick mount and fly home. Once home, Hiccup gets to work in peeling the green off of the corn while Stoick preps a sack of potatoes.

"So how was your day?" Hiccup asks as he feeds another peel of greens to the fire.

"Oh, long." Stoick says as he begins to peel three potatoes with his knife. "I'm tellin ya' some of these people. I don't know how I manage to deal with their drama every day."

"The Morgansons were that mad about the floor creaking?" Hiccup chuckles.

"They suggested, or more rather demanded to have the entire house rebuilt so nothing creaks." Stoick says, and Hiccup busts out laughing.

"Are you serious?"

"Dead serious."

"What did you say?" Hiccup asks as he plops the corn into a pot and swings it over the fire. Then he takes the kettle, which started to boil, and pour himself a cup.

"I say I'd do what I can. I plan on having Gobber breaking the news to them tomorrow." Stoick says as he starts to chop the potatoes. "Sometimes Gobber's bluntness comes in handy."

Hiccup pours Stoick a mug of water before flavoring it with honey. Then he takes the waste basket and slowly scrapes the peels into the trash. After helping his Dad stir the pot of corn, and boiling the potatoes, the two sit at the table and drink their cups of warm water.

"Oh, before I forget," Stoick starts. "Ms. Robin wants to know if you're available to help melt off some of the frost from her roof."

"Yeah sure." Hiccup agrees. "What time?"

"She said about noon tomorrow. She usually leaves around that time to do for a dip in the ocean."

"Good to know." Hiccup jokes and the two cheers as supper is ready.

Hiccup didn't really enjoy much of the volunteer work around the village, but Ms. Robin was an amazing baker, and she usually gave Hiccup a delicious reward of cookies in the end. The next day, Hiccup decides to head to Ms. Robin's house early to get the job done. Ms. Robin was fine with it and promised Hiccup a plate of cookies afterwards. Defrosting was trickier than Hiccup intended since Toothless' fire was hot enough to set the entire house ablaze, but Hiccup managed fine with giving Toothless the harder and thicker sections of ice. Once the roof was finished, Ms. Robin thanks Hiccup and hands him a small sack of warm cookies, wrapped in a plaid patterned blanket.

Stuffing the baked delicacies into his fur vest, Hiccup flies with Toothless back to the house. Walking through the front door, the house was empty. Hiccup decides to set the treats onto the counter for later when his dad gets home. Knowing how much his Dad loves Ms. Robins' baking, he wouldn't want to miss out on a bite. Hiccup had just put away yesterday's dishes when the front door bursts open.

"Hiccup!" Gobber calls.

"Gobber, what's up?" Hiccup asks as he saves a bowl from falling.

"Sorry to startle you, but your father wants you to come down to the docks immediately." Gobber informs.

"Is everything okay? He didn't tell me there'd be any tribal ships coming in today." Hiccup says.

"No, nothing like that, just some stray sailor who lost her way." Gobber says.

"Her?" Hiccup repeats, then slapping away Gobber's hand spider-crawling its way to the sack of cookies.

"Yeah," Gobber affirms smirking. "Apparently she got lost sailing home from a family vacation."

Hiccup laughs at Gobber's secret signal. He simply shakes his head and flies to the docks. Thornado was standing next to Stormfly as Hiccup lands. As Hiccup weaves his way through the small crowd gathering, Hiccup manages to spot Heather next to Fishlegs. Hiccup waves them hello and meets up with his Dad as he sees him speaking with someone whose face was concealed by the hood of a cloak.

From what Hiccup could see, she was about his age, but appeared older –more like a woman than a young girl. She had rose-red lips, ebony hair, and skin as white as snow, but her rounded face and figure helps to show her youth and innocence. As Hiccup steps closer, the woman's head turns and notices him. Hiccup stops and he can see her shyly smile. Stoick turns and smiles broadly.

"Ah, there you are son." He says as he wraps an arm around Hiccup's shoulder, tugging him over. "This is my heir and sire, Hiccup."

Hiccup smiles as the woman extends her hand out. "Nice to meet you."

Hiccup was in awe as he takes and shakes her hand. Her voice was so soft and feminine.

"Oh come now dearie, don't be shy." Stoick encourages as she withdraws her hand back into her cloak.

The woman smiles and the soft, feminine hand reaches up, pulling the hood back, revealing her face. Hiccup felt a gasp hitch in his throat. He thought he failed at containing it, but he realizes it wasn't him. It was every other man in the village. He shoots a glance back and sees every man's mouth agape; hypnotized.

She was breathtakingly beautiful. If there was any other word that could describe her beauty more powerfully, Hiccup couldn't think of it.

The button of the cloak comes undone and it puddle around her. The woman's hair, like that of a sorceress, lay curtaining around her head. It draped over the sides of her shoulders in long, coiling tendrils. It's possible she might have bangs, but Hiccup can't tell as they're held back with a headband. Her navy blue dress, heavy and flowing, like the inaugural gown of a princess or queen, spilled from either sides of her covered feet while the embellished train fell in gentle folds along the docks. The pleats and endless ripples in the lavish garment gave the illusion of softness, her face the illusion of life. The soft, sweeping lines in her dress and gentle arm movements emphasize her cheerful, sweet disposition and her joy for life. Her large, brown almond-shaped eyes capture the sense of wonder.

"A-and you are?" Hiccup stutters, nervously clearing his throat.

The woman gives him a warm smile.

"My name is Jolene."


	2. Chapter 2

**~ Hey guys! I can't even begin to say how sorry I am I haven't updated in a while. But I really appreciate your patience and that you continue to read the story. I promise now I'll update quicker and Again, thank you all so much for the reviews and comments! :D Xxx~**

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After two days of getting Jolene settled into her new home, the news of her arrival spread through the village like wild fire. Given that Berk has had its unfair share of unwelcomed guests, the fact that a beautiful, _nice_ girl has paid a visit is rejuvenating.

According to the Vikings who helped dock her ship, Jolene had been on vacation when a storm caused her to dock the boat. By the time the storm had subsided, her boat was covered in frost and thrown of course. The Vikings recommend they send out a message to her village reporting they have her safe and sound, but Jolene denied. She explained about how her family was looking for new homes for her given that her eighteenth birthday was in a month.

While she remained within the boundaries of her current home, that didn't stop the men of the village from paying her 'welcoming' visits. They would deliver food, clothing, jewelry, weapons and the occasional yak. No doubt it was due to her unworldly beauty. Even Hiccup had to admit, he'd never seen such embossing creature such as Jolene. But as the chief's son, he was obligated to maintain his composure and put his duties before his love life.

Stoick had taken it upon himself to show Jolene around the village, and while it spared Hiccup the oncoming awkward conversation, he had a sense his father was merely trying to break the ice between the two before dumping her on Hiccup. For once Hiccup was grateful for his magic lessons with Grandmamma; gave him reasons to stay away. The feeling he gets with Jolene is beyond strange. She's the most beautiful girl he's undoubtedly seen outside of Berk, and one would think he'd want to spend every quaking moment with her. And yet Hiccup couldn't shake a feeling. But he merely dismissed it as nerves.

By now, the winter cold had settled on Berk and clung the wooden finishes on the house. Layers of white capped the flat tops of evergreen shrubs which glistened like frosted cupcakes. This morning, Hiccup was going to meet up with Grandmamma in the woods for an elemental spellwork for today. Shrugging on his fur vest, he substituted an apple for breakfast and headed downstairs. Toothless purrs as he chomps down an entire trout in one gulp. Turning, Hiccup opened the front door and let in a burst of frigid winter air. Even though the sudden burst of cold should have sent a shiver rattling through him, it didn't. Outside, Hiccup could see that the deep blue darkness had since lightened, evidence that the sawn was doing its best to push back the curtain of light.

Hopping up on Toothless, the two fly off to the woods, and just out of the corner of his eye he can see smoke coming from the chimney of Jolene's house. Bellowing black smoke, it clashes with the falling flakes of snow, mixing into soot. The wind tugs at the sleeves of Hiccup's tunic. It pulled at his hair and clung to his bare skin. But he didn't feel the cold. Only the sandlike sting of the snow as it raked his chapped face. Squinting his eyes, he tries his best to navigate as the flakes would occasionally zip into his eyes. Thankfully, Grandmamma's campfire smoke clashed against the white snow on the mountains. Swooping low, the two landed at her cabin on top the mountain. She had created one just outside her home and she stands there sketching into the snow as the two land.

"Hey Grandmamma." Hiccup said as they slowly approached her.

"Hey honey. How you doing?" she stops rubbing her hands together to brush kisses on both Hiccup's cheek.

"Good. So what are we learning today?" he nervously asks.

"Oh don't you worry honey. This will all be completely safe. Now first we should probably fetch the books from the basement."

"Great." Hiccup complains, not even trying to hide his loath.

Hiccup hurried up the short flight of stairs, twisted the knob, and pulled open the door. As he slipped inside, his skin flared fire hot. The stiff scent of aged paper, dust, and stale air greeted him. He turns to face the door as it closed. With a glance over his shoulder, he saw no one. Making his way through the skull and cobweb ridden spec, he reached the basement door, and with a shot of courage pulled it open and pounded down the flight of stairs. The tired light of torches burned a dull gold, adding little relief to the accumulated shadows. He takes a quick inventory of his familiar surroundings.

"Back here again." He whispers to himself as he walks past a torch on the bracket.

Tall wooden bookcases stood in close proximity to one another. Their shelves, once stuffed to the point of bowing, now seemed to hold a much lighter burden. There were even a few barren spots in between clusters of worn-looing volumes and stacked tomes. The high-reaching shelves stretched long across the floor, halfway blocking the copper- colored light that struggled to illuminate the aisles in between. To his right a bin of old novels with a handwritten sign on the side. Hiccup slunk between two of the tallest shelves. He placed one foot in front of the other as though walking a tightrope and trailed close to the shelf at his right.

After pulling out a dark purple and gold-striped volume, he runs back up the stairs; the book tucked under one arm. Pulling the door shut behind him, he trots back out to Grandmamma who's now pulled a hood over her head. Wisps of silver gray hair floating as he smiles. Hiccup hands her the book and she places it on the frail wooden podium. As she flips through the pages, Hiccup peers over her shoulder and notices tracings in the snow. Hiccup swerves around Grandmamma and stands on his toes in an attempt to get a better angle.

"It's called a Wiccan Pentagram." Grandmamma suddenly says, startling Hiccup.

He turns and sees her smiling, so he tries to slow his spike-shot heartbeat. For a moment he acted like he'd been caught, like a child doing something sneaky and got caught in the act.

"The five points of the star each represent different elements." Grandmamma explains as she rounds the podium. Starting from the top of the star, then working clockwise she names each point. "Spirit, Water, Fire, Earth, and Air. Now each have their own purpose and meaning, and it will be difficult since we're dealing with opposites, but we'll take it slow."

With a quick pat on Hiccup's shoulder, she brings him back to the podium where she left the page open, depicting foreign and yet familiar words. They were mainly words Hiccup didn't recognize, then he'd get a word here and there that he'd understand. Honestly, things would've been easier if there were pictures. It was made clear later that Hiccup was more of a visual learner given that he made most of the pictures in the Book of Dragons.

"What is this?" he asks.

"This language is something the ancients used back in the old days. These are just simple spells we'll work on." Grandmamma explains.

"Spells?" Hiccup's voice rises in concern. "Grandmamma I don't know about this. Witchcraft isn't something that's well, respected around Berk." Hiccup explains.

"Oh don't worry honey. These are simple spells of the Wicca. And Wicca is a form of witchcraft, but mostly benevolent. They're mainly nature-oriented practices." Grandmamma comforts, and then with a clap of her hands, her mood jumps a hundred percent. "Now, to start, a simple Air spell should be good."

She steps back and looked up. She stared at the countless specks that rained down around them, each white flake highlighted against the black backdrop of morning, like a thousand falling starts in a dead sky.

"First, we'll have to clear the clouds." She says.

"And how do I do that?" Hiccup asks.

Grandmamma simply points to the book and Hiccup peers back and finds a small marking next to a sentence of words.

"H-how do I-"

"Sound it out." Grandmamma cuts him off.

A cloud floated into the darkening grey-blue. Hiccup takes a deep breath and sighs in annoyance as he glances back at the page. _"Belum Hoecoro Mazura"_

He holds up his hand and waved it. The cloud swirled in the direction his hand as moving. Hiccup's eyes widen and he glances back to Grandmamma who only gestures him to focus. With a rotation motion, the cloud was now a circle. Hiccup's mouth widened into a smile at the unexplainable yet incredible moment in front of him. He waves his hand again. Now the cloud looked more like a slightly dented circle, and then a moon.

"Alright, finished it. We need to keep going." Grandmamma interjects.

Hiccup waves his hand and the moon blows away.

"Now, let's try fire." Hiccup looks to her in worry. "Don't worry, again, simple steps. We're going to melt the snow inside the pentagram." Grandmamma steps forward and flips through the pages until she stops at a different page with a fire logo at the top. "Read this, and picture the pentagram in your mind."

Facing the snow circle, Hiccup takes another deep breath and closes his eyes. He peeks at the page to read the words, then repeats them in his head. Then he says it out loud. _"Watara Lucario"_

Hiccup could feel his hands grow warm as he tries to picture the star just as Grandmamma instructed. His hands grow warmer, radiating the same warmth as a fire at night in the summer. Hiccup didn't dare open his eyes in fear of losing focus.

"Excellent work Hiccup, you're halfway there." Grandmamma encourages.

Hiccup squeezes his eyes tighter and feels his hands flare fire hot as the late morning sun painted crimson swirls against his closed eyelids. He can hear Grandmamma encouraging him, but suddenly her voice slowly fades off.

"Grandmamma?" Hiccup calls, but there's no answer. He opens his eyes and nearly stumbles backward into the snow, or rather ash.

For a moment, Hiccup thought his vision had been altered. Everything, the entire world has been painted in red. Like someone had taken Hiccup's eyes and added drops of pure red into them. Everything was gone. Grandmamma, the pentagram, the white snow.

The sky was on fire. The flames reached into the sky, pushing forth massive fists of smoke, swallowing everything in their path. Even the moon. Hiccup screamed, stumbling back and onto the ashen ground. He coughs as clouds billow up around him. They shift and shape in grey swirls, looking like hands desperately clawing at him to pull him under. The ground had turned to swamp. Burned ashen ground that has been drenched by the rains that preceded the fire. If only it had rained today.

"Grandmamma?" Hiccup called, but his voice was hoarse. He pushes himself to his feet, his legs caked in ash. "Grandmamma!" Hiccup choked back the smoke that burned his throat so badly it hurt to breathe. "What's happening?" he whispers to himself.

The sound of an oncoming projectile forces Hiccup to leap into the skeletal remains of shrubs. More ash surrounds him and he pulls the collar of his tunic over his nose. Mud clung to the bottom of his shoe and the lining of his tunic. Another shot sends sparks arching into the air, nearly missing Hiccup. He needed to move. He needed to get to the village. He may not know what's going on, but he was about to find out. He needed to get to the Square and find Toothless. He scrambles to his feet and rushes to the village. He could hear the screams, mixed with the rogue screeching of dragons and the unrelenting roar of the flames.

Hiccup was so taken by the scene before him, he didn't pay attention. The next thing he knew, he was past the Square, and at the Plaza. Everything was burning, everything ablaze. Hiccup drops to his knees in front of his house. The screams of people piercing his ears, even greater than the Screaming Death, and more traumatizing. Hiccup rotates in a circle, taking in the world around him. He wanted to call out, call Toothless, Astrid, his father, anyone. But somehow he'd lost his voice; and was unsure whether it was due to the suffocating smoke or the horror. One by one, Hiccup watched the homes of his neighbors, of his friends and family, surrender to the flames. And in the worst of circumstances, many of those friends and relatives surrendered as well, eaten alive by the flames in the very home where he was born.

A shout catches his attentions and he turns to find his father, still alive; his clothes singed and scared from his face down.

"Dad!" Hiccup screamed, but his father kept his back to him; aiding a woman and her newborn child. He must not hear him, he needed to get closer.

Hiccup rushes to his father, but a sudden fire shot nearly misses him. Hiccup ends up sliding to a stop from this sudden attack. The firewall blocking his view from his father, and yet even with the flames and the screaming, Hiccup could still hear the unbearable scream of his father.

"DAD!" Pushing himself to up, he looks around and tries to find a way around.

There was no way.

Facing the flames, he closes his eyes and with a sudden burst of courage, he sprints into the flames. Running, into the smoke, toward the fire – right into the mouth of the beast. He had to get to his father. He pushed off his prostatic foot and dived into the flames. Coming out of the other side, he ducked and rolled up onto one knee. Looking at his hands, he was unharmed, not even a scratch. No burns, no scars, no cuts.

No time to wonder why, Hiccup gets up and looks around. As he takes cautious steps forward, he nearly slips when his prostatic foot steps into something slippery. Looking down, bile rise at the back of his throat.

It was blood.

_Dragon's_ blood.

Following the puddle, it snakes its way under a black and blue mass; small white spots dotted across its torso. Hiccup's heart tripled in speed. "No." he pleads. Running up he rounds his way up to the front, and feels a scream clawing at the back of his throat.

Thornado lies in his own puddle of blood. His mouth still widely agape, as if he was struck in the middle of a scream. A deep pine-green colored shard was embedded through both his eyes sockets, the tip poking into the ground. His wings tattered and worn like peasant clothing. His throat felt tight, crammed with the scream and wailing of grief. Hiccup covers his mouth as the bile surges forward. He force himself to swallow it, the dire need to find his father the only thing keeping him rooted.

Looking around, he weaves his way wearily through the flames until he hears his father's deafening howl. Rushing through the smoke, he comes to find his Dad on the ground, propped on his elbow.

"Dad I'm coming!"

As he was about to reach out to his Dad, he suddenly stops as his Dad says something. "How could you do this?!" he shouts into the smoke.

"Dad! Dad I'm here! What's going on?!"

The flames shot higher. The fire spread like it had a will of its own until the flames surrounded Stoick. His father didn't even look at him as he yelled again. "I never thought you'd become this!"

"Dad I'm right here!" Hiccup's hands reached out to jostle him.

His hands swept cleanly through him, and he jerked back.

A maniacal laughter echoed through the flames. A chill ran through his spine as he slowly turned his head to face the direction of his father. A silhouette floated behind the smoke. He wasn't imagining it. The figure was floating. _Above _the flames.

"Never say never old man." The voice cooed.

The flames rose higher. Spiking and jolting to the sky. As the outline of the apparition became clearer, it raised its hands above its head and a small hole opened in the middle of the flames, then expanding and growing larger until the figure floated through. Once he was through they retracted.

Hiccup's heart hitched in his throat.

It was him.

But he was different.

His eyes were devoid of color. Two black pits bore into him, causing his breath to catch in his throat. He swallows hard, it felt like drowning. He looked like he was from another world.

He now wears a black tunic with a red ribbon around his waist. A high collar reached up to his ears, falling into a cape at the back. Gold straps crossed into an X across his chest, embezzled with studs. At their intersection, a badge with a mysterious symbol catches the light and winks like a diamond. A black crown rested on his head, in addition to his black gloves. At the top of his tunic, he has a cerise green gem with a golden border, as he also wears tight black leggings and black shoes.

Slowly, Hiccup reached backward and thrust one hand into the flames. He didn't wince, but remained completely expressionless. Then stuck his other hand into the blaze. He lifted his hands above his head and held the fire as if it were a ball. Then he chucks the flames as hard as he could. Right at himself. Fire smashed into the oak behind him, igniting and racing down the trunk.

Hiccup laughs. A dark laugh, like Hadrian's but it wasn't Hadrian, and that's what gave Hiccup the shivers.

"No." Hiccup comes undone. "No, no, no, no, no, no." he fists his hair in his hands and falls to his knees. "This isn't happening. This can't be happening."

He looks up and sees himself brings his hands together – a small gap left between – and a small spark ignited, then grew into a ball of pure lightning. Small bolts twitching and growing larger as he raises it to the sky. The ball shoots an iridescent white beacon into the sky, and it ripped open. An unworldly, powerful bolt striking the remaining rubble of houses. The crack of the lighting ripping though Hiccup's ears.

He looks back to his Dad. "Dad, Dad please. I'm right here!"

Looking back to himself, he watches as he laughs. He fisted his hands and raises them up. Out of nowhere, thin spines materialize. Black and looking like icicles. If Hiccup squinted, he could see swirls of violet wisps waving around inside. There had to have been at least twenty. Hiccup scoots back, leveled with his father. With a flick of the wrist, they all point directly at his father.

"Time to hand over the throne old man." Hiccup growls.

Then swinging his hands forward, the shards launched with whiplash speed. They rained down like outstretched claws.

"No!" Hiccup wails.

He closed his eyes and blocked his face. The pain never came. He opened his eyes to see the world whir into an indefinite blur. Instead, he felt lighter. He was slipping backward, falling away. Dissolving.

The snap came like a punch to his gut.

Then his eyes flew open for a second time - his real eyes. He gasped, sucking in air as though he'd been drowning. He looked up and saw the clear blue sky poised above his head and he knew he was back in his body. Back at home.

He jerked up to a sitting position, the world spinning. He held his head as he found himself on a wooden table, soaking wet, drenched in his own sweat. The pain in his body came first, an intense surge of fire that raged like lave through his veins.

But it could not compare with what followed after.

A wail rose up from his depths. It felt like an inhuman cry.

'Hiccup!" Hiccup turns to find his dad, alive and clean, running towards him. "Are you all right?" he asks.

Hiccup's lip trembles, and he whimpers. "Dad?"

He brought his hand up to caress the rough, unsinged hairs of his father's beard. Stoick looked into Hiccup's eyes. A green abyss that looked like it went somewhere so far away he could never reach it. Stoick place a hand on Hiccup's shoulder. He could feel the bone beneath his tunic, and in that moment, he seemed like such a fragile thing.

Before Stoick could reply, Hiccup rushes out of the home and into the Square.

Everything was there.

Clean, bright, happy. Hiccup could hear Stoick call behind him. But he doesn't move.

Hiccup had barely turned around before falling to his knees, releasing his fear in petrified tears.


	3. Chapter 3

Soaking in the hot water, his bare knees tucked against his chest, Hiccup tried to erase the horrid images of, whatever he saw from his mind. It had all seemed so real. It was like he was outside his body, watching himself as he destroyed the village and everyone he cared about. Hiccup sinks deeper into the tub, the water just below his nose.

The minute he jolted upright, it took him a moment to realize he was back in reality. But where did he go? The last thing he remembers was simply trying to melt a small circle with grandmamma. Then the next, he's watching himself burn the village to ash. Grandmamma said he did just fine. The circle had melted, heck he'd even made several small spring flowers bloom, but the moment she told him to stop, he'd fainted. He started to get a severely high fever and he was crying, mumbling something. One being about his father, which explains why he was there when Hiccup woke up.

Waking up in the infirmary, which has been moved next door to Gobber's blacksmith shop, Hiccup didn't count how many were there to see him. His Dad, Grandmamma, Heather, Astrid and Fishlegs. Toothless was behind him, but Hiccup didn't see as he ran out the moment he could stand. The moment he collapsed and started to cry, Stoick gathered him in his arms and brought him home. There Hiccup abandoned him as he made a beeline for the bathroom. Shutting the door behind him, Hiccup made sure to lock it.

His brain couldn't seem to sort through, let alone comprehend, the sequence of that evening's events.

Worst of all, Hiccup kept telling himself it was all just a dream, that he'd had a nightmare. A simple side effect by the magic and his intense concentration on trying to melt the snow. The reason why it was a blaze was because he was doing a _fire spell_. The logic seemed all too legit to deny. Deep down, though, he knew better that to hope for that. The flames, the screams, it had all been too real, his father's words of loathing to final. There had to be a reason he saw it. It meant something to him. Foreboding something. Something terrible. Bad enough to have him break down.

Hiccup bit his bottom lip, and endless stream of questions pin-ponging back and forth in his head. Why did Hiccup watch himself destroy the village? Did it have something to do with the magic training? Was it telling him not to practice it? But then how was he supposed to control it? For some reason, Hiccup couldn't that gem out of his mind. It was beautiful and, ominous at the same time. At the same time, he couldn't forget those eyes, _his _eyes. They were pitch black. Merciless.

Then waking up to find his father and friends huddled around him in the infirmary. Worry plastered on their faces, it was like reliving the Hadrian nightmare all over again. Everyone constantly huddling around him to protect him. Worried about his sanity.

With this in mind, Hiccup felt a gentle shift take place inside him, like a set of scales tipping. His brow softened as he recalled the anxious expression on his father's face when he jolted awake from the nightmare. Astrid's numerous attempts to extract some kind of meaningful conversation out of him also came to mind. And now everyone was doing their best to lure Hiccup back from the ledge everyone though he must be teetering on.

Why is it when one thing ends, another rears its ugly head and tries to mess with Hiccup's sanity?

Fresh tears filled his eyes, causing he room to swim. Hiccup blinked and the tears fall, searing the skin of his already aw cheeks. Hiccup drew in a shaky breath. Shutting his eyes tight, he willed the tide of despair welling up within him to subside. It filled him anyway, leaving him to wonder if the battle for his sanity was one he could never win because it was one he had already lost. A sob rose up from his depths, but Hiccup clamped quaking hands over his mouth; catching it before it could escape. He swallowed hard, forcing it down again.

It felt like drowning.

The water had not yet grown cold, but Hiccup knew he couldn't sit there while his father was trying to conduct damage control. Hiccup climbed out of the tub, wiping the drying tears from his face with both hands. He wraps himself in a towel and, tilting his head to one side, lazily combed his fingers through his growing hair.

Pulling open the door, brisk air seized his damp skin. A coldness too stagnant to be a draft permeated the empty space. Hiccup padded through the threshold to stand at the bottom of the stairs overlooking the entire first floor. Apart from the soothing popping and cracking of the fire, the house was quiet. Hiccup remembered Dad had some duty tonight and wouldn't be home until late. Hiccup was thankful. He didn't think he could have fielded any questions tonight.

The cold seeping through his towel, he turned and made his way toward his room.

Clear shafts of icy moonlight streamed through his skylights, casting his surroundings into different shades of frost blue. Pulling out a worn night tunic, he tossed his towel to the floor and got dressed in the dark. Picking up the Book of Dragons, carefully he placed it next to his pillow. Flipping it open, the pages rested against each other with a hushing sound. Looking at the pictures he drew, the Night Fury taking off in flight, the Changewing with dripping acid breath, somehow, it managed to group d him. He came back to himself, scarcely realizing how far away he had really been.

Toothless lay sleeping on his stone bed, his tail wrapped protectively around him for security. Not bothering to peel back the covers, Hiccup climbed onto his bed. He lay down on his side, facing the wall. His mind circled back to the previous day's nightmare, the irony in of itself. By now though, the only thing that remained untarnished by layers of wishful thinking and fogginess was the core feeling left with him. It lay buried deep within him, like a piece of grit worried into a pearl.

In the end, it was the only thing he really needed in order to keep going.

Hope.

Hiccup laid awake that night.

So far, the renewed silence wasn't helping her get to sleep any faster. All things considered, he could have been tucked away in the grand bedroom of Thor's castle and still be watching the wall wide-eyed.

As midnight came and went, not being able to drift off became its own brand of torture. Especially since sleep was the one thing he wanted more than anything. Because unconsciousness was the only thing he really needed right now, despite the overwhelming idea he could relive that terrible dream. Hiccup rolled onto his back to face the ceiling, the blank space offering a better canvas on which to connect the series of dots. Hiccup shut his eyes as images of the vision swirled through his mind. In them, he found a way to sleep.

Under the cover of night, the homes of Berk gave off a warm buttery glow from the windows. The chimneys spewed out clouds of black smoke, and villagers' footprints began to fill as fresh powder snowflakes drifted into the continuing blanket of white. Astrid and Stormfly were just finishing pinning shield ornaments to the large wooden Snoggletog tree at the epicenter of the village.

"Okay girl, one more." Astrid said as she readied a shield in her hand. Stormfly flexed her tail and her spines pointed outward.

Tossing the last blue and green patterned shield into the tree, Stormfly was rewarded with a fresh leg of a chicken.

"Way to go girl." Astrid praised.

As she was petting the Nadder's snout, she happened to catch shadow movement out of the corner of her eye. Looking over, Snotlout was trudging through the thickening snow; something seemed, different about him. He seemed, desperate somehow. He was wearing his heavy coat and proceeded to get to his location with determination. Looking ahead, Astrid saw he was headed to Jolene's house. Rolling her eyes and shaking her head in disapprove, she turned away and resumed to hopping aboard Stormfly and fling off to her home.

Snotlout had finally reached the front porch of Jolene's house. Not even bothering to stomp off the wet powder form his shoes, he began to bang onto her door. A harsh pounding with persistence, acting as if he were trapped in a flooding room and the water level was just about to reach his nose. Finally he paused.

"Please," he whispers, a puff of white billowing out of his mouth. He began to pound again. "Please! Let me in!" he begged. "I need to see you, please!"

He lowers his head and can feel the wind searing at his raw cheeks. Jolene's house had an abandoned quality to it with the lights out. In fact, there weren't any lights on. Not even smoke from a fire was leaching into the brittle cold air. Her house was completely dark, practically blending into the shadows casted over her house from the icy moonlight. With his hand fisting around the brass knob, Snotlout grips it harder, hoping to crush it.

Suddenly, he hears the latch from the tumbler click. He jerks his head up and releases his grip on the doorknob. Stepping back, her door slowly opens with a long monotone creak. Darkness bled from the threshold and into the living area. Or what should be the living area, the ink black shadow made it impossible to see anything. And yet Snotlout didn't turn around and run. He stays, rooted in place, a smile so wide it mimics a grimace, plastered on his face. As he peers into the darkness, suddenly, rows of teeth launch at him with a quiet hiss.

The door closes, and yet not scream was heard.

The smooth softenss brushed his arm, the sensation faint as a sigh.

Hiccup rolled onto his side.

The slight silken something returned, though, tracing the curve of his jawline.

He lifted a hand to brush whatever it was away, sending a ripple through the still pool of his slumber.

But the ghostly slip of velvet would not relent.

It passed over Hiccup's lips.

He scowled and snatched at the air in front of his face, catching something sleek and smooth within his fist.

His eyes fluttered open. Shooting upright, he unclenched his hand and frowned down at the object that now rested in his palm.

A rip of silk fabric.

Hiccup ran his thumb over the fabric. It seemed to belong to part of a dress, but it was torn as if caught on a branch. Hiccup scanned the perimeter of his room, searching the silent mesh of shadows for any sign of movement.

His surroundings lay still, quiet – empty.

Hiccup did his best to keep his breathing in check. He swallowed, forcing his panic level down while he waited of each of his senses to check in, to confirm that there really was nothing there.

But his heart refused to match the quietness or slow down.

A flicker of cool blue light drew Hiccup's attention to the stairwell.

His focus landed on the stairs. The flickering came again, the icy flutter filling stairwell, Hiccup could tell that the source of the light had to be on the first floor.

He wondered if Toothless had stepped outside to fire of plasma blasts, but that was something completely out of character for him, and besides, he was right in front of Hiccup, still sleeping, tail wound around him.

Hiccup swung his legs over the side of his bed, and his bare foot and prostatic foot hit the wooden floor. Nerves prickling, Hiccup took a step toward the hall, and then another.

As he moved closer, he had to fight the urge to rush forward and dive down the stairs, knowing all too well that diving head on into the danger was about as good as covering himself in blood and diving into a shark tank.

Peering around a wooden supporter, he lanced downward, through the banister rungs. The hearth was black, dead with a mound of charcoal settled at the center. The blue light continued to flash through from the living room; the weird flickering appeared to be emanating from the back rooms. He drifted down the stairs with careful steps. Sliding his free hand along the wall, his fingertips lightly brushed against the wood with a featherlike touch.

He froze midway down when he heard what sounded like garbled singing – a woman's airy voice accompanied by warbling piano notes.

"_I'll take thee away, _

_into a land of enchantment._

_Come my sweet lover, the time's come to play_

_Here in my garden of shadows."_

Hiccup tensed.

He turned his head toward the music when it started to fade in and out. As if it was coming closer, then moving further away; the woman's voice starting to drown out.

"_Follow . . . my lover . . ._

_I'll show . . . the way_

_Through . . . the pain . . . sorrow_

_Weep not . . . lover."_

Hiccup moved steadily, his steps keeping time with the creaking of the wood. He made his way to stand at the back door that led into the backyard. The exterior of which stood unoccupied aside from the various small trees, and lush green grass. Through the dimness, the light glared a flickering blue from outside.

With a jolt of electric bravery, Hiccup yanks open the door.

He stands shocked.

The entire backyard, the details of the grass and trees were thrown in and out of view from the light. His eyes trailed the row of hickory trees behind a gathering of shrubs and moved past the threshold of the door. The blanket of snow flowing up to the steps melts away with his steps, as if his body was radiating a special heat that caused the snow to melt, revealing lush spring grass and early spring flowers.

"Who's there?" he asked the forest in a quiet voice.

As though in answer, the trees started to sway, whispering as a small fog bank dwindled to Hiccup's ankles.

Looking around, he tries to find any plausible explanation, just to verify he's not imaging things. The wind swished past him in a low hush, dragging col fingers through his hair. As far as he could see, the woodlands stretched long in every direction. The trees themselves stood in thick union, close as grass blades, almost as though they had conspired to merge nearer to on another in order to block anyone who might dare cross their boundaries. Or, Hiccup thought, try to escape. Layers of fog spilled out from between the blackened tree trunks.

When he faces forward again, the image of a young woman seated in profile at a grand piano, her hands trailing back and forth over the keys, began to bleed through the overly of fog. The music picked up once more, the pattern of trickling notes matching the movements of the figure before him. Oddly, everything within the fog's spread, except for the woman's deep violet evening gown, appeared in muted tones of black and white. Her long fair hair, secured partially by a glittering comb, hung in loose strands around her downturned face, concealing her features from view as she played and sang.

The dress that she wore, beautiful and elegant, was floor-length. It hugged close to the curves of her body before opening out just below the knees like the trumpet of a bell flower.

The woman's hands, nimble and long-fingered, seemed to float over the piano keys. And yet the way she moved, jerky and quick between smooth slow-motion moments.

Rocking forward and back ever so slightly as she played, the woman sang with a wispy and ethereal voice, one infused with control, less like an angel's and more like that of a ghost, heartrending and full of mystery.

"_Hush now dear lover, it must be this way._

_To weary of life and deception._

_Rest now my lover, for soon we'll away, _

_Into the calm and the quiet."_

Hiccup lowered his guard as he drew closer, entranced by the strange scene playing itself out in front of him; confused and curious as to what it was doing there and where it came from. He wished the woman would turn and look his way, if only for a second. There was something so familiar about her. Especially those floating hands.

_Had_ he seen her before?

Hiccup studied the woman, who continued to play a though locked in a trance, the melody now meandering on without vocal accompaniment, the piano taking over. An interlude of high notes trickled forth in a complicated pattern, accented by a few well-placed chords from the instrument's lower spectrum. This mixture of dark and light, high and low, hope and despairs, worked is hypnotic effect on Hiccup, as though he was a small child listening to an intricate story. Then there was a pause

"Oh, hello there."

Hiccup halted.

Taking a half-step back, Hiccup was suddenly debating on whether to peel out and run given he'd interrupted her. But the woman didn't even look up to officially acknowledge his presence. Willing himself to stand his ground, Hiccup waited for something else to happen, steeling himself to move in the even that it did.

"It's okay." The woman's voice broke through the quietness of the forest, her tone reassuring. "You can come in."

Hiccup swallowed a lump in his throat and proceeded forward, baby steps as he inched closer to the piano.

"I shouldn't play so late," she said. "Did I wake you? Since you're up, if you like, I could let you hear the rest. It's our song, after all, and it _is_ almost finished. Here, let me sing you the last verse."

As the tinkle of piano notes trickled through the trees, Hiccup's initial fear began to subside, and he pressed on toward the piano as music poured from it.

"_Come my sweet lover, I'll take thee away,_

_Into a land of enchantment._

_Come my dear lover, the time's come to stay, _

_here in my garden of shadows."_

Hiccup sidled up to the piano, drawing closer resting his elbow on the edge. He listened, hypnotized, as the piano carried on anyway. Then the music faded off, ending in a sharp clang of keys a though something about the song's execution had frustrated the composer.

"I don't know." Her voice sighed. "Do you think that last part's too sad? Well, don't just stand there, silly," she said through a laugh. "Come, sit with me on the bench awhile. Let me play you the whole thing from start to finish, and then you tell me what you think."

The woman patted the spot on the bench next to her as she scooted over to make room for him. Hiccup circled around as the melody picked up again.

"_Come my sweet lover,_

_I'll take thee away,_

_Into a land of enchantment._

_Come my dear lover, the time's come to stay,_

_Here in my garden of shadows."_

A snap of a twig drew Hiccup's gaze over his shoulder. Beside him, the piano clang out of aggression. Hiccup jumps back, frightened.

"Oh that woman." The voice sneered. "She's always ruining my melodies."

"There's someone else?" Hiccup asks, barely audible.

"No one important." The woman's snaps, her voice as sharp as s freshly hammered sword. "Come, let's go somewhere more quiet." The woman gestured with an outstretched hand.

Ignoring her gesture, Hiccup headed into a tunneled opening. The mouth an angular circle, wide open like the mouth of a Thunderdrum. The branches of trees curving and arching up and around until they met as a keystone. Placing a hand on the outside, Hiccup gazed inward. It dipped down for a moment before stretching up. Hiccup proceeded, but a distant sound, hissing from behind, stopped him before he could set a foot into the open archway.

Glancing over his shoulder, back toward the piano, Hiccup watched as spider web fissures started to crawl their way up the legs of the piano, then branching out across the lid. The entire thing crumpled and dissipated into the fog, with not so much as a hushing sound. The woman was gone, and that feeling of peace along with it. His nerves prickled again with a rush of adrenaline, as if they had been sleeping the wile time to melody was infecting the air.

The hissing transformed into whispers. Then the whispers became words, which began to drift from the atmosphere, growing louder but still not discernible. It sounded like bickering women.

Approaching the archway, Hiccup could see a narrow set of stairs just within; forged by the roots of trees. He crossed the threshold and, looking up saw open skies. The low-flying clouds skimmed past at a frightening speed, the cavernous spaces between their folds illuminating with brilliant flashes of violet lightening.

Fighting vertigo, Hiccup groped for the stairs. He mounted them, watching his feet climb until he reached the top. When he raided his head again, he saw that he was in an open clearing. Black trees crowded the freestanding platform, their arms outstretched to the passing clouds.

In the middle of the room, wearing a blue tunic and a studded skirt, stood his mother, her back to his. Between her shoulder blades, a long braid trailed down stopping at her lower back. Hiccup wanted to laugh. To dance. To open his mouth and let the fierce joy singing through him echo from the treetops. Clenched in one fist, he saw she held a deep purple ribbon, a sash fitted to wrap around the waist of a tunic. She turns to face him slowly, the wind teasing at her hair, tugging at the hem of her skirt. Hiccup took a step toward her but stopped when their eyes met.

Her stare, a penetrating emerald gaze he remembered, rendered him immobile. He didn't feel threatened, but he didn't feel welcome either. But the overwhelming joy of seeing his other after so long coursed through him like the poison of a Scauldron. The ribbon had the initials V. H embroidered in the corner. Without saying a word, Hiccup moves toward her, his heart suddenly knocking against his chest like it wants its freedom.

She raised her hands and held her palms out to him. Hiccup lifted his own hands to mirror hers. He pressed their palms together, his fingers folding down to lace through hers. Hiccup felt a rush of warmth course through him, a relief as pure and sweet as spring rain. He catapulted himself at her, swinging his arms around her neck and pulling her into a tight embrace. She drew him close. "I've missed you so much." He whispered.

And that couldn't even be closer to the truth. Hiccup hadn't seen her since he had fought off Alvin and his Changewing, then she returns to warn him about his evil Doppelganger Hadrian. Then it has been horrible, torturous silence ever since then. While the fact that she only appears as an omen when something bad was about to happen, Hiccup didn't care. He'll worry about the badness to come later, right now, she was here, she felt a real as it could get. And he wanted to memorize everything about her before the call of reality pulled him back; the call always coming to him like the harsh caw of a crow.

Tears burned at the edges of his eyes. He pressed his face against his mother's arm and breathed in she smiled so wonderful to him. Like fresh-picked vanilla, fireplace cinders, and fresh baked bread, a smell tied to a million different memories. Leaning into her, he felt her press her lips to his forehead in a kiss.

"I have missed you my child." She breathes as she pulls away. Wiping away his tears with her thumbs, she then takes the sash and places it in his palm. "Keep this close. And never forget who you are."

"Wait!" he called as she began to turn away. "Mom!"

But it was too late. His eyes were open and he was back in his bed, awake and alone in his darkened room.


	4. Chapter 4

Cold wind swept over him.

Hiccup shivered; loose strand of his hair tickled his cheek in spiderweb wisps. He pulled the blanket more tightly around him, curling into himself. Though the draft died away, dissipating like a sigh, it left the room frigid in its wake. Thin and sharp, the air stung his nose as he inhaled.

Hiccup stirred. Through half-mast eyelids, smoothing his hair back, he pushed himself up onto his elbows. He twitches his cheeks when he feels crisp streams of dry tears on his cheeks. Wiping his palms across his cheeks, a slice of deep purple shimmers gently against his sheets. He stiffens. Slowly, he turn his head to peer down at the object.

A violet ribbon.

The sight of it jolted Hiccup's heart into hyperspeed. Hiccup jerked convulsively. With a small cry, he released the band as though it had scaled him. Scrambling backward, kicking off covers he collided with the headboard of his bed, causing it to rattle. Hiccup started to brainstorm explanations to give himself reassurance that what he was thinking was impossible. But then he glanced to where the ribbon lay amid his tangled covers, and he knew that fooling himself was no longer an option.

He knows this ribbon. It's one of a handful that belonged to his mother. Stoick had them stowed away in a little box, somewhere. He didn't really tell Hiccup any specific detail, and Hiccup never questioned as to why not. It was something private for only his father. Something of his wife that he wanted to be just his. Hiccup can't blame him for wanting a single link back to his wife, a link that belonged to only him.

Hiccup pulls the ribbon out from the crumpled blankets, smooth it over his knee for a moment, his fingers slowly tracing over the silvery V. H stitched into the corner. His eyes sting with fresh tears at the memory of her scent. Unable to resist, Hiccup brought the ribbon close to his nose, brushing it against his nostrils; rewarded with a scent that seized his heart like a clenched fist.

It smelled like her. Gods. It _still_ smelled like her.

Hiccup shut his eyes, even though he wasn't sleepy.

His mind circled back to the previous night's dream. By now, though, the only thing that remained untarnished by layers of wishful thinking and fogginess was the core feeling it had left him with. It lay buried deep within him, like a piece of grit worried into a pearl. In the end, it was the only thing he really needed in order to keep going.

Love.

Contrary to Fishlegs' prediction it took an entire week for most of the snow to melt. Still, icicles hung from the roofs and sides of homes and businesses, dripping from gutters like stripes of torn lace. Like crusted barnacles, hard clumps of charcoal-colored sludge clung to the underbellies of boots and wagon wheels.

The world had a drowned and washed-out look by the time Hiccup returned to the Dragon Academy, as though the thick coating of white had receded, no color had returned to take its place. Even the grass looked gray, poking up through the lingering swiss cheese patterns of snow on the Academy's front doorstep.

But despite the lack of scenery Hiccup was glad to finally get out of his house, even if it felt like he was simply leaving one prison for another.

A light rain began to fall as he stepped off of Toothless, through the line dragons of and the lingering haze of singed wood. He stopped to stand on the sidewalk that led down into the Academy. Hooking his thumbs in the strap of his satchel, he scanned the building's regal structure. Far above, beyond its rigid outline, tattered clouds crawled cross a slate sky. Flashings liver in the overcast light, the iron bars did their best to coordinate themselves with winter's drab gray palette, to blend in just like everything else. Just like him.

Like the falling snow, his connection with his mom, to _her_, had abruptly ceased to be. The dream slowly fading in a far off scattered memory. Leaving him small connection, his experience to thaw in the stark glare of reality. Hiccup had tucked the ribbon away in the drawer of his nightstand, out of sight and for no out of his mind.

But now, being back in the Plaza of the village, he wish he had. Needing the comfort as he brushed past the Academy and through the bustling town. To his left and right, people passed him, hurrying to silence and stuff their groceries into sacks and bags. At first Hiccup didn't think anyone noticed him. Then he made the mistake of removing the hood of his dull-brown cloak as he entered the Square.

He knew he wasn't imagining the looks, the blatant stares, the whispers.

By this time, he'd grown used to them. They'd become a staple of his daily life on Berk. Everyone knew who he was. He was the boy who after he was free from the hypnosis of Alvin's Changewing, he released an evil Doppelganger and let it ravage the entire village. "You now," he heard one of the men say to a group of buddies before the official snowfall. "the chief's son, he released an evil Doppelganger, and it totally overthrew Stoick and his men. Then after that, he starting seeing that weird old lady and people are saying he's now a warlock. That's why more people started moving. If he's the one who's going to be running the village soon, I wouldn't want to live here anymore either."

Hiccup bit the inside of his lip. He did his best to ignore the gawkers and murmuring as he made the way though the market.

It wasn't that he hadn't expected this to happen after everything he and the village have seen and been through. He'd just hoped that there would have been enough in-between time of the seasons to provide even a minuscule amount of distraction.

But there would be no respite.

Whispers and turning heads, glares and fleeting looks of sympathy alike followed him all the way to the only two people who don't judge him. Mulch and Bucket.

They had long since proven their loyalties since the lightning was striking in the village, and when the villagers were ready to ship off Toothless, they stood by Stoick's side. And despite the moment of betrayal when Hiccup stabbed Bucket when he was brainwashed, that still didn't ruin their friendship. Bucket was pulling at a wheelbarrow and Mulch was just done helping another customer when the two spot Hiccup.

"Oh hey there Hiccup." Mulch said with a snaggletooth grin.

"Hey Mulch." Hiccup said in a shy smile. "My Dad says you've got us some good fish?"

"Oh ho you bet we do. We caught it this morning. The most beautiful cod and salmon that dare swim the Meridian of Misery." Mulch boasts and Hiccup smiles as Mulch nudges him with his elbow. "Bucket, give the boy the fish."

Bucket digs through sacks of flower and barrels of weapon until he finally finds the burlap sack, soaked at the bottom from the wet fish. He smiles and hands the sack to Hiccup. "Here ya' go Hiccup."

"Thanks Bucket." Hiccup says with a forced smile.

"Everything alright Hiccup?" Mulch asks.

Hiccup sighs, a puff of air billowing into the sharp air. "Uh," he paused, debating on whether it was safe to involve Mulch and Bucket just yet. One dream and one vision, while the timing was coincidental, it wasn't enough for Hiccup to decide it was a matter worth discussing with others. "just, a little self-conscious about everything." He snaps at the last minute.

"Oh, still gossiping hmm?" Mulch goes on as he loads up the cart.

"Yeah, yeah pretty much." Hiccup plays as he slings the sack over his shoulder. "Thanks for the fish guys, I'll see you later." Hiccup calls as he starts the trek back to his home.

As he made his way home, Hiccup looked around and pulled his hood over his head again. The feeling of the cloth on either side of his face helped him feel more concealed even if it was only an optical illusion. As he make his way to the familiar trek, near Gobber's blacksmith shop, fear tugged at his gut when he noticed the set of fresh footprints in the snow, which led all the way up to the front entrance of Gobber's shop. He made his way to follow but stopped midway. Glancing around, it seemed no one was watching him, thankfully. If anyone did see this, it would only add to the whispers going around the village of Hiccup slowly losing his sanity.

Wasting no time, Hiccup hurried toward the shop, doing his best to stay out of sight as he crept up to stand just outside the doorway. Pressing his back to the wall, he turned his head to listen.

"-not comfortable with him practicing magic anymore. Not with the way he's been acting," he heard his father say. "I'm afraid he's not ready for it."

"He is, Stoick. I know it's been a rough start, but he seemed to be getting the hang of it. Maybe he needs this. Maybe he just needs something to focus on." Gobber spoke.

"I agree, but I don't like the idea of my son practicing witchcraft. You saw him this morning. Whatever it is, it's getting worse."

"The boy doesn't ask for much, Stoick. If he needs this to help himself, then who are you to argue? The boys' been through enough."

"Well I'm starting to think that this magic stuff is exactly what he _doesn't_ need."

"Are you saying you're going to make him stop?" Gobber asks.

"What I'm saying is that I think he needs a break. A _real_ break. From magic, from the Academy, and the village."

"I'm not so sure Stoick." Gobber said. "What if the magic really _is_ helping Hiccup, and we just can't see it? He hasn't come to you for anything. Maybe you're just being overprotective."

"Hiccup's been through so much, he doesn't want anyone to worry about him. If anything is happening, he's most likely keeping it to himself. And I just don't have the guts to make him pry."

At these words, Hiccup paled. His thoughts freewheeled back to the night before, to the sight of the ribbon resting in his palm.

If his father hadn't known it was there, then how had it found its way out of hiding?

_The dream_, Hiccup thought, his memory latching onto the image of his mother handing him the ribbon.

His mother. The dream . . . had it been real? Had he been awake?

It was his only explanation, for now.

A numbing dread prickled in his gut.

If that were true, then that meant his mother could be somewhere nearby. She might even be watching him right now. Hiccup looked out around the village. He searched the snow-laden trees and houses for a braid or a nay-blue tunic, wondering how it could be possible when he had never dreamt of her before the previous year; back when he was under the grip of Alvin's Changewing.

"Do you ever think that maybe _that's_ the reason why he needs the magic training?" Hiccup heard Gobber say. "Clearly he's been through a lot, Stoick. And the fact remains that neither of us knows exactly what happened between him and that dragon, let alone what was exchanged between him and Hadrian. The only thing we _do_ know is that your son hasn't been the same since."

"What if the magic, grows on him? What if that one day was an omen that the worse is yet to come?" Stoick asked, the anger in his voice giving way to quiet panic.

Hiccup drew a quick breath and held it.

"Why would he come to any of us?" Gobber asked. "It's clear he doesn't trust anyone right now and why would he, when he's been through so much mental battles and we've just been pushing that aside, hoping things will eventually smooth over on their own? Maybe if we listen to him, maybe if we let him do something that will take his mind off everything, he'll actually start to open up. You saw him before Stoick, I know you did. When was the last time you heard him laugh? And when was the last time you saw him smile like that? I mean, _really_ smile."

For a long moment, Hiccup heard only the crackling of the coals.

"I hate feeling helpless like this," his dad said. "I don't have a better idea, and honestly, I don't think you do either. But, it's dangerous Gobber. All I want this Snoggletog is to see my boy happy again."

"You don't think I've wanted the same thing? He's been my apprentice ever since he was little. Or well, littler. He's like the son I never had."

Unable to take the guilt pooling in his stomach, Hiccup stepped back from the door. Pulling his hood father over his head, he barely felt the winter air cling to his bare skin while a few stray flakes drifted from an otherwise tranquil sky. As he sped-walked his way home, the sunlight bounced off the snow, searing his eyes. He squinted through the glare, scanning the quiet scene of his village. His thoughts of the conversation bounced back and forth in his skull. Guilt tugged at his heart as he thought of all the times he secluded himself from his father.

He thought he was doing something good sparing his father the worry of seeing him have another mental battle, but really, it was causing his father more worry seeing him go through the battle alone after all that's happened. Hiccup never realized how much his father _wanted_ to help, but he simply pushed him aside thinking it was his battle, he had to finish it.

His own badge of honor.

A pair of fluffy-tailed squirrels skittered and chased each other across Hiccup's toes and up the trunk of Mrs. Finley's oak. That was when he saw him.

Hiccup froze. His eyes devoid of any emotion besides fatigue and dread, his cheeks hollow and skin a pale grey. He trudged through the snow like he was half dead. His teeth were bared from his hollow yet tight cheeks; like it was pulled back taught.

Hiccup hesitated as he approached Snotlout, fearing one sudden move and he'll pounce on him like a mouse trying to swerve around an irritable cat.

"S-Snotlout?" Hiccup struggles to say.

Snotlout approaches, but he didn't seem to acknowledge Hiccup's presence. As he gets closer, he resembles more of a zombie than himself. A strange mark was on his forearm. It was in the shape of a circle with a ten point star. Hiccup peers his head to the side to get a better view, but when the realization of how close Snotlout was getting, Hiccup quickly stepped out of the way. As Snotlout passed him, he moaned and hissed, still not one glance in Hiccup's direction. Once he left Hiccup behind, Hiccup quickly spun open his heels and dashed for his home. Running as fast as his feet could carry him, Hiccup nearly wanted to scream from the way Snotlout looked. It looked like the life had been sucked right out of him, leaving behind a wrinkly, grey and miserable skin.

With his home in sight, Hiccup picked up the pace and nearly yanked the door off its hinges as he flung it open. Once inside, he pressed his back to it, shutting it with a loud bang, his head knocking against the wood in the process. He slides down to the floor, his heart beating in his ears and his vision blurry from the sudden vertigo brought on by the sudden warmth. Against the warm inside air, his skin flared fire hot. Tiny beads of sweat began to form on his forehead. He trembled where he sat and kept his face peering straight ahead to the back door.

As if things weren't strange enough for him, now there was Zombie Snotlout. The first thing that comes to Hiccup's mind is a sort of illness. And if it was contagious, he needed to get Snotlout secluded immediately before he infects the other villagers. It was nothing like anything hiccup had ever seen, then again Hiccup wasn't all that educated in the medicine crafts, but this didn't seem like any virus. He wasn't coughing, sneezing, he only hissed and moaned. But with hiccup's limited knowledge, he couldn't make assumptions.

The one thing that made Hiccup thin otherwise was that strange mark on Snotlout's forearm. Something about it Hiccup recognized. But what? It was somewhere in his thoughts he could picture it, but couldn't place an exact image. It hovered in his thoughts, floating in the black oblivion, begging to be recognized. Hiccup gripped his head and growled in annoyance. Where had he seen it?

Then a sudden realization dawned on him. He ran up to his room and straight to his desk where he pulled out a pencil, spilling the others on the floor, yanked of a piece of parchment paper and began scribbling. His mind wandered off, his eyes focusing on a small splinter with an upturned edge, curled like a beckoning finger. As his thoughts jumbled around, trying to make sense of themselves, his hand freely scribbled on the paper, as if it had a mind of its own and it was leeching the information of the mark from his brain to the paper.

With one blink, Hiccup snapped out of his drifting trance and he felt a little light headed as he blinked again, as if to resettle his body. He looked to his paper and his brows furrowed in curiosity how he even drew it without reference. Once on the sheet, it resembled the Pentagram Grandmamma had showed him only with five extra stars. Looking closer, the points almost looked like teeth. But as he tries to decipher it more, he suddenly hears the storm door creak open. He froze. He drops to his knees, and creeps his way over to the wooden banister. Turning his head, he caught sight of a dark blur as it slid away from the fireplace and darted deeper inside his house.

Snatching a shield hanging along the all, Hiccup charged down the stairs, rushing the black-clad figure. Arms raised, the intruder stumbled backward, sprawling on the floor with a heavy _clump_. Hiccup lifted his shield high over his head, preparing to bring it down like a sledgehammer.

"Don't pound me!"

Hiccup stopped short of striking, halted by the familiar voice as well as the wide brown eyes that now peered up at him from behind long black curls.

Stunned, Hiccup lowered the shield.

"I'm sorry," Jolene said, a nervous tremor in her voice, "I wanted to come and see you, and the door was open."

Hiccup took a step back, unsure of what to say or think.

Or how to feel. . .

Nonetheless Hiccup extended his hand and she accepted it gratefully. Jolene kept her distance, slowly fixing her dress and avoiding eye contact, as though she feared Hiccup might change his mind and clock her anyway. Hiccup saw that Jolene wore a knitted scarf. It wrapped softly around her neck, her hair spilling over it certain parts of its edges. She also had on open-fingered gloves that blended into her charcoal fur-lined cloak. There was an undeniable current of secret joy that surged within Hiccup at the sight of Jolene.

"So, what's up?" Hiccup asked trying not to sound rude.

Jolene's eyes looked to him, then shifted to the wall. "I came to talk."

"Yeah?" Hiccup said. Curiosity suddenly blooming at his core. "About what?"

"Something important. And I'm actually glad we got to do it privately." she shyly smiles.

Hiccup feels his cheeks grow warm. He nervously clears his throat. "So, um, h-here can I get you anything? Some warm yak milk perhaps?" he stutter while pulling out a chair for her.

Jolene giggles as she flattens her dress against her bum and takes her seat. "Actually, do you have any tea?"

"Yeah, yeah sure. I'll be right back." Hiccup goes to the back and into the pantry where he fetches a chamomile for the water.

Walking back into the room, Jolene sits with her hands folded over one another in her lap, back straight hovering above the back of the chair. Her cloak drapes over the back. Her skirt spread out in gentle folds along the floor. She looked as though she was posing for a painting. She nervously fidgets with her hands, a look of wilted misery flittered across her features. Hiccup reenters the room. They exchange a smile as Hiccup drops the plant into the boiling water. Taking a wooden spoon, he stirs the water until the plants had moistened and slowly started to deteriorate. Soon the fragrance filled the home. Within minutes of Toothless heating the fire, the beverage was ready and Hiccup poured two cups and handed Jolene hers.

"So," Hiccups starts as he sips his tea. "Is everything okay?"

He takes a seat across from Jolene. Toothless circled before he took his place at Hiccup's feet, head resting on his front feet.

"Well, it's a little complicated," she pauses to peer down at her sup, the steam, billowing up before vanishing into the air. "and I know we don't know each other that well, so I apologize this is all so sudden. But I just needed someone to talk to and I figured since you're the chief's son-"

She realized she was babbling, so she stopped and took in a deep breath. Hiccup gently smiles, and places his hand on hers, it still held the cold chill of winter, slowly leaching the heat of the tea.

Jolene takes a deep breath, "Well, in all honestly, I originally came to see you."

Hiccup was in mid-slurp when she spoke, so the sudden intimate confession caused him to choke on the tea, coughing as it went down his windpipe. Once he clears his throat, Jolene decides to go on, sparing Hiccup talking.

"I wanted to make sure you were okay." She says, ghosting her hand across Hiccup's knuckles.

Hiccup nervously clears his throat. "Uh, y-yeah. I'm fine why?"

"Well, it's just your villagers haven't really been, interactive with you much. And you seem like a likable guy, and with you being the son of chief after all. . . ."

"Uh, its' just," Hiccup stops to take a sip of tea. "I've been going through a lot lately, and I guess through the past, the villagers are starting to lose trust in me. And I can't say I blame them."

"Does it have anything to do with the fact that you're practicing magic?" Jolene asks.

Hiccup looks to her wide-eyed. While it was no secret that he was practicing magic, the reasons were unclear with the villagers. Stoick wanted to keep it confidential since he didn't want anything else stressing out Hiccup, but Jolene's bluntness has left him with little defense.

"Uh, well . . ." Hiccup struggles to find the words to explain it to her without revealing everything that's happened to him within the past year.

"You don't have to tell me, but the magic thing is another reason why I wanted to see you." She suddenly says. Hiccup meets her eyes, an abysmal brown that somehow deprives Hiccup of his oxygen. "I need to confess something, and as far as I can tell, you're the only person I can trust."

Hiccup felt his cheeks flare and he knew he had to be turning red.

"Can I trust you?" she pleads.

"Of course Jolene." Hiccup perks up when the realization dawns on him that that was the first time he's ever said her name.

She lowers her head and takes a shaky breath. The vulnerability made Hiccup want to wrap her in his arms and comfort her. Clearly this was a difficult subject. Perhaps this was even the first time she was ever admitting it to anyone.

"Okay, well there's no need for masks." She says looking directly into Hiccup's eyes. "I know what's going on."

Hiccup retreats back into his seat, withdrawing his hand which had long been melded to hers. His jaw clamped tight. Without thinking Hiccup opens his mouth. "Look, you don't know anything." His mouth unknowingly curled into a snarl. "Neither does my friends or even my father."

"This isn't about them. This is about you." Jolene retorts, holding her ground despite Hiccup's sudden hostility. "You and you're wonderful new gift."

"Pft, I don't have any gifts." Hiccup mumbles, flashing back to the vision he had. Flames, burning ember, crimson splattered. The two black holes that bore into his soul. "Just a curse."

"Only if you let it be."

He looks up to Jolene, and while her concern and innocence gave Hiccup the slight sense that she might possibly actually understand, the subject itself made him uncomfortable. "Look, I don't mean to be rude, but I don't want any part of this. It's hard trying to be normal for mw around here okay?!"

Hiccup clamps a hand over his mouth as a sob rose from the depths of his darkness. He swallows it and after a sniffle, he collects himself. He had expected Jolene to get up and storm out from his outburst, but instead she stayed rooted in her place, watching Hiccup, her face black of any judgment.

Perhaps she really did understand.

"Hiccup," her soft voice calls. Hiccup squeezes his eyes shut. His eyes watering beneath his lids. The gentleness and patience in her tone mad Hiccup regret his moment. "Look, I want you to watch me for a second, please?" she beckons.

Hiccup looks to her as she rises from her seat, standing at the edge of the table. When she sees Hiccup give her his attention, she slowly raises a dainty hand and narrows her eyebrows. Hiccup is stumped for a moment, and suddenly he hears the shield he leant against the table rattle. He looks and sees a pale blue light emanate from around the shield. His eyes widen and he lets out a small sound of surprise.

The shield continued to rattler until it finally levitated into the air Hiccup looked back to Jolene and her eyes were glowing a piercing blue-diamond luster that could cut as much as convince. Hiccup whirled back to the shield as it made its way across the span of the floor and following Jolene's hand motions, she rotated her hand before flattening her fingers down. The shield then tilted and hooked onto the wall.

"W-whoa. How did you do that?" Hiccup breathes, his initial shock overpowering his ability to speak.

"The same way you can melt snow and manipulate clouds. And just like you one day everything was normal and then suddenly I had this power. And trust me I hated it too." Jolene says as she approaches Hiccup.

"I, I don't know what to say?" Hiccup says, his senses heightening when he realizes how close she's getting.

"You have to promise you won't tell anyone. Please Hiccup." Jolene begs as she kneels down I front of him. "You're the only one I've told. Promise you won't say anything."

She places her hand on Hiccup's wounding her fingers like a spider would its prey.

"I – I promise Jolene. I promise. And I'm touched you trust me so much. But why is this a sore subject for you, if you don't mind me asking?" Hiccup yearns.

Jolene's quiet for a moment, then she look back to him. "I didn't wander on your shores by accident. Well I did, but not for the reasons you think." She pause, as if waiting for Hiccup to say something, but he doesn't. "I ran away from home."

Hiccup's eye furrow in a seriousness that made people take him seriously. "What happened?" Jolene looked up at him, to make sure she hadn't imagined the genuine note of concern. She felt the brush of Hiccup's knuckles against her jaw.

She lowers her head, and Hiccup can feel the vibration as she draws a shaky breath.

"Back on my home village, my family, while well-respected, we were outsiders. My family possessed a rare, gift that others would either see as a threat or an advantage, if you will." Jolene looks up. "I'm a witch, Hiccup. With powers beyond understanding. At first it wasn't considered a threat, there were plenty of others among us. But soon, the people turned against us, and they tortured and burned my friends and family if accused of being a witch. Through the years, raids would come to my village, sixty years' worth. They came again and again, each time taking more of my friends and taking them captive. We did our best to hold them off, but out numbers dwindled as the raids continued."

She pauses as her voice hitches toward the end. The painful memory reopening the wounds she clearly tried so hard over the years to cover.

"Finally, my great-grandmother was captured. She was left away in chains. The last witch of my village. They say they were put in terrible prisons, tortured and punished for having theses powers. She was the only one who managed to escape."

"So, what brought you here?" Hiccup softly asks. So gently.

"As the years passed, no one ever spoke the word witch in the village. And when people found out I had 'the spark' as they now call it, there were soldiers coming to the village. I was the very last witch to ever be born in the village. They recommended my family leave at once. But my parents couldn't afford the price. So I took matters into my own hands and I ran away. Sparing them the pain of losing a daughter, permanently, at least."

"You're a very brace woman." Hiccup says, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Tears stream down Jolene's flawless face and she leans her head in Hiccup's lap. Hiccup leans down and kisses the crown of her head. Sobs begin to wreck her body, she seems so fragile. Her grip tightens on Hiccup's hand. Hiccup offers no words of encouragement, why would he when it can't change anything? He can't rewrite the past, all he can do is give her hope of a better life.

"You're safe now, Jolene. I promise you're safe."

She looks up to him, wiping away her tears. He holds her chin and smiles. Her skin seemed to hum from where he touches her. She saw him shift in his seat. He leaned down close to whisper, the sensation of his breath against her cheek nearly causing her eyes to flutter shut.

"I promise."

Hiccup ghosts his thumb over her bottom lip. She goes rigid, then relaxes to his touch. Hiccup presses his lips to her forehead. Jolene sighs and Hiccup can feel her skin warm. After a few more moments of comfort, Jolene needed to head home. Hiccup wraps her cloak around her neck, buttoning just at the base of her chest. Even her collarbone was somehow attractive.

"Thank you Hiccup." She mumble shyly. Hiccup smiles as he opens the storm door.

"I hope you feel better." He says.

Jolene pulls her hood over her head, the ends of her hair streaming down through the opening. "I do. And I hope to see you again."

"So do I." Hiccup retorts, taken aback by his own choice of words. Jolene giggles as she crosses the threshold out into the snow-laden town.

She glances over her shoulder and Hiccup offers a wave. Waving back, he stood and stared after her until the train of her cloak vanished around the corner. Once she's out of his sight, Hiccup closes the door with a muted thump. A smile refused to cease Hiccup's lips, a feeling of absolute purebred joy germinated within his chest. Hiccup let the feeling spread, let it sink into his secret spaces and make him its own.

As he put away the cups of tea, Hiccup noticed something black shadowing off his hand. Angling it, his heart nearly stops from the initial shock. He drops the cups and they shatter into brittle pieces. Rushing to the bathroom, Hiccup grabs the soap and begins to scrub the back of his hand as hard as he can, until its bright pink and tingly. But it won't go away.

It won't even fade.

His hand sank, as though his own hand became too heavy for him to hold.

Hiccup can practically feel the teeth lacerate at his heart he stares at the tooth-like points of a ten point star.


	5. Chapter 5

That night, Hiccup's conversation with Jolene continued to run through his mind in laps. Over and over he had to process what Jolene had told him. It was defiantly a lot to process, and on top of that, he was the only one she had told in confidence.

_"I'm a witch."_

Those three words buzzed around his head like angry hornets. And they stung his every thought as they continued to swarm.

Now, sitting at his desk, rough sketches of Toothless scattered across the wood, he tried to shrink the feeling of needing to tell his father. But his promise to Jolene is the only thing that keeps him upstairs.

Not long after Jolene left, Stoick had returned home after a long day. Hiccup had left him a cup of tea and excused himself upstairs without supper, doing his best to pull the sleeve of his tunic over his hand. Needless to say he had lost his appetite for the evening, and he even felt a little nauseous. There was a definite feeling of excitement and worry mixing together inside his heart. Joy because he had finally found someone who shares the same burden and understanding of having theses powers, but worry because of the many secret and powers that Jolene might hold.

Strangely, it gave Hiccup a new sense of motivation to get back to the magic training. It had been at least four days without his training with Grandmamma, and now that's he's deciding to get back to it, he worries that she will deny him. But something tells him she won't.

But what made it so different now that Jolene was a witch?

Was it because she understood?

Was it because he didn't want her going through his alone?

How is it that one girl had somehow managed to make him feel so much better about, everything? They barely knew each other, and yet Hiccup senses that they've met before.

An instant connection.

But then Hiccup starts to suddenly have flashes of the dream. The dream where he finds a beautiful woman playing the piano in the woods. Then his mother giving him the ribbon, and her words. _"Never forget who you really are."_

Then the words of the woman. _"That woman, she's always ruining my music._"

Something about the ways he said made him feel more cautious around her. He knew better to trust his mother. But what was it about her words that made him feel cautious. Did it have something to do with the woman?

And the strangest thing is that he felt it somehow connected to Jolene. No doubt her beauty matched with the woman in his dreams perfectly. But if that's the case, why did it seem she hated his mother? Especially since Jolene has doesn't even know about Hiccup's mother.

How the two connect is still unknown.

His energy draining with every thought, Hiccup decides to drop it and ready for bed. Pulling the quilt over his body, Hiccup blows out the candle as he hears Toothless come in from the skylight and ignite his bed. With his eyelids closed, the fire had a soft glow to it, and once it died down, Hiccup thoughts overtook him and he slept.

Hiccup stared down at the village as he maneuvered through the congested sky. Slushy rain streaked his eyes, turning the whole view mottled. Snoggletog lights blurred into glowing smudges, while the bright holiday tree melded into a shapeless mesh of colors.

As Hiccup edged toward the main road, a sifting of white snow slowly began to replace the sleet. It collected on the houses in fluffy specks, the downy flecks bringing Hiccup's thoughts back to the upcoming holiday. Rows of trees swished past on the left, clumps of wild mistletoe clinging to their barren branches like tangled knots in petrified hair.

He flew over the Square and through the Plaza. It was then he felt a brush on his elbow. Looking over his shoulder, he was surprised and in shock to find a pair of Night Fury wings on his back, flapping by themselves, and yet he felt no brisk of air.

_Am I dreaming again?_

As his thoughts began to regenerate, it dawned upon Hiccup that he wasn't even questioning where he was even going. Even if this was a dream, why is that he knew where he was going, and yet he didn't? His body just flew over the village, as if it was controlling itself, leading him somewhere. And he didn't question it.

Each part of the village he recognized, using the Snoggletog tree as a marker, he branched out his vision toward the houses and the forest and the Cove. His body suddenly took a dive and he nearly crashed into the snowy earth, when the wind picked up and he was hovering only a couple feet above the ground. As he blindly navigated his way around, soon he came upon an unfamiliar part of town. Hiccup knew every back alley and shortcut, but he hadn't explore this part of town given that it was barren and old. In fact it was slated for demolition last summer.

A shudder runs through Hiccup's body at the memory of his battle with Hadrian.

They had had a hand in the demolition. Pounding through walls and crashing through floors. Wood shattering everywhere and splinters embedding themselves into his skin. It had taken Hiccup a few days to stop his habit of rubbing his hands along his arms to check for the ominous glowing marks that were seared into his skin by the Doppelganger. By the end of the battle, Hadrian had been locked away in a spellbook and trapped with Grandmamma's cabin.

The neighborhood and since been demolished, until Hiccup watches the land bleed from the snow laden ground to a grey ash-coated desert. Looking ahead, trees, black and dead, stood innumerable before a glowing violet horizon. Leaden and tatters, the clouds hung low in the slate-colored sky, while the interlocking boughs of the tree created a webwork of shadow patterns over the ash coated ground. On either side of him, through the network of trees, he could see only a single house though its structure was far less recognizable.

The foundation beneath supported a mere frame, the façade itself in crumbling ruin. Doors and windows lacked panes and wood, giving the home the appearance of blackened skulls, their vacant entrances like slack-jawed mouths gaping in shock.

A burst of wind slipped past as he continued to make his way down the desolate street. It was the first breeze he felt since he even entered the dream. Cool and brisk, it carried with it a familiar scent.

Finally as he closed in on the home, his body suddenly jerked to a stop and with a heavy flap of his wings, he flew up until he was hidden within the clouds. And yet he could still see the house perfectly. He did his best to remain focused as he saw a figure make its way up the three steps leading to the porch. The structure and built of the figure made it unmistakable.

Snotlout.

He knocked on the door and Hiccup watched as a bright blue mist, emanating its own light hovered over to the door. Not even extending out a limb, the door opened and Snotlout smiled. He raised his arms up, as if ready to embrace a hug. But the mist simply hovered in its palace.

At the head of the mist, a small hole slowly opened, and inside, needle-like teeth exposed themselves. In the shape of a ten point star.

Then in a blink, it swooped and swarmed Snotlout. Hiccup was about to scream for him, but he watched in horror as Snotlout suddenly became gaunt and inhuman. The flesh of his cheeks sank father inward to revel the contours of his skull, his lips shriveling back to expose rows of his teeth. His nose dissolved into a hole while his eyes, hollowing, became sunken pits lit by two distant pinpricks of light.

And the whole time he was smiling, as if he was enjoying it.

Hiccup felt the scream grow and claw at his throat like an angry bird. He made no move, even though his heart thundered in his chest. Then his eyes flicked to behind Snotlout, and suddenly there was an endless expanse of apparitions lined up behind Snotlout. They all fidgeted, eager to be the net contender. Hiccup stared in shock at what they were doing.

He watches helplessly as the mist finally retracts from Snotlout, leaving him grey and gaunt. He falls to his knees before flopping on the porch. The mist then grows and expands until it flies over the lineup and Hiccup watches at the figures reach up and cry for it, and when it descends, they morph into screams. But they don't retreat.

Suddenly it felt like everything went still. The figures vanished, and Hiccup jolted as he sees the mist almost look up to him. Whispers crawled from it, sounding in a strange rhythmic pattern. _"Tellekli!"_

In an instant, it dispersed into smoke, rushing him like a gust of wind. Hiccup had no time to scream before the tendrils of vapor wrapped around his throat. He felt himself dropping. He felt that same feeling in his stomach of when he and Toothless do a steep dive. He lifted his hand s to claw at the looping threads of swirling mist. His nails scraped his own skin, but the tightness remained. He spun and rotated in every direction as he tries to pry the unfeeling fingers. He twisted. Stumbling backward to escape, he bumped into a mountainside ricocheting off. He descended faster, almost crashing into the woodlands.

The inky swirls whisked around him and Hiccup held his breath, afraid of what would happen if he dared breathe in any part of it. Hiccup fought the urge to shut his eyes, to shut it out. He forces his wings to keep flapping, regardless of which direction he'd wind up. Meanwhile, he trained the fringe of his vision on the thick black branch that was coming up inches to his right, his attention zoning in on it.

He felt a brush across his lips. The mist made a disembodied whisper. Growling, Hiccup jerked his head away from it. He lifted his leg and kicked hard. The mist seemed to loosen, and his foot wen through smoke. Seizing his chance, he flew for the branch, groping his hands around it. It wrenched off the tree with a snap and Hiccup began taking swipes at the darkness around him. The branch sliced through the tendrils again and again with no effect. The haze slid back from him. Hiccup finally breathed in fresh air and swooped high into the clouds. He breathed in and out as he tried to find the mist. When he saw it, he charged, the branch whistling as it arced through the air. Again the things lithered back, lost once more amid the thickening murk.

With a deafening howl, the mist charged for him, claws materialized, outstretched. Hiccup swung the branch again, but it dispersed at the last second, splitting into multiple wisps, each separate strand whisking off in its own direction until he wasn't sure which way to turn. Hiccup went suddenly still as he felt the tendrils return, wrapping their way around his waist from behind before transforming into arms. He felt a pull into a cold presence; he feels the breath down his skin and bones.

"Don't touch me!" Hiccup railed.

Hen raised the branch and jabbed it backward. The branch sailed through nothing, the momentum of the action serving only to knock him off balance. He teetered, catching himself with his wings frantically flapping to regain balance.

He heaved in sharp, quick breathes, and his gaze darted around his surroundings.

But the mist was gone.

The branch disintegrated into ash in his hands.

As he felt his heartbeat slow, it surged again as his back began to feel lighter. He started to bounce, down and he looked over his shoulder to find his wings shriveling. The hissing of fire burned holes through his skin, like the Red Death. Slowly his wings faded off and he began to spiral downward.

No.

No!

He tried to flap but it was useless. Soon his wings became ash and he was left alone as the wings seared his hair and skin. The ground grew nearer.

Hiccup screamed.

His howl, primal and fierce, priced the nighttime silence.

He strained against the floor, his hair whipping at his face. Twisting and writhing, he finally yanked free from the hands that grasped for his wrists. Scrambling back, he slammed into the kitchen table, banging his skull on the wooden frame.

"-iccup!"

His eyes sprang open. The room swirled into focus.

He blinked rapidly at the light that radiated from the hearth, his heart thundering in his chest, manic as a captured bird.

"Hiccup, wake up. Wake up, son."

He gasped, heaving, and swallowed the air in gulps.

Someone patted his cheek. He seized the large, warm hand between both of his, his attention narrowing on the spiked gauntlets that encircled one wrist and the slim red hairs that poked out from beneath the sleeve of a familiar forest green tunic.

Hiccup looked into the face of his father. He stared at him hard, eyes searching, his dark brows knitted together. He glanced from him to his skylight. Upstairs. Closed. The crack and rumble of thunder indicated a stormy night. Hiccup felt a hand brush his cheek, and he flinched. He turned back to his farther, whose eyes strove to make contact with his.

"Hiccup, look at me. You were dreaming, son. Dreaming."

He heard himself whimper as he scooted to sit up. His empty stomach churned, and he swallowed in an effort to repress a wave of nausea. Stoick grasped him by the shoulder, and Hiccup collapsed into his arms. He pressed his face into his neck and released one long, choking sob.

"Shh," he hushed. "Just a bad dream. That's all."

Over his shoulder, he caught the sight of Toothless hovering close by, his face anxious, etched with delicate lines of worry. He drew near and sank onto the floor, next to Hiccup, placing a cool tongue to Hiccup's brow. That was when Hiccup saw Gobber standing near the open fireplace. Hiccup quaked in his father's arms while the adrenaline made its final rounds through his system. Fingers twitching, he curled them into the sleeve of Stoick's tunic.

"It's okay," his Dad said as he rocked him, his voice firm, commanding, as though his saying so held the power to make it true. He stroked Hiccup's back, and Hiccup could feel his hand smoothing over shoulder blades moist with specks of sweat.

Hiccup shut his eyes and tried to slow his breathing. To bring his heart to normal speed and return his mind to reality. While his father rubbed his back, Toothless licked his forehead, the nimble tips of his forked tongue tucking flyaway strands, smoothing his hair.

All the attention made Hiccup feel so small, so helpless, like he'd somehow reverted to being five years old again.

Only his father couldn't tell him that nightmare weren't real.

Because he knew better.

"What happened?" Goober gently asks.

Hiccup numbly shakes his head no, and Stoick glares at Gobber, motioning now's not the time. "It's all right son. I'm here. I'm here." Stoick coos. "I'm sure it was just a nightmare."

"No." Hiccup mumbles, barely audible. "I fell. Through the ceiling."

"You're fine, Hiccup. You're okay."

"Uh, Stoick . . ."

Hiccup feel Stoick glance up at Gobber's voice, and Hiccup can feel him go rigid. Hiccup weakly forces himself to turn his head, and immediately he wishes he hadn't looked. His throat tightened and he whimpered. Tears stinging his eyes and Hiccup could've swore he felt his heart shrivel.

The quilt and pillow of his bed were stuck. Between the floor level dividing the bedroom and main floor. They hung there in suspense, mocking Hiccup like the dead bodies dangling at the gallows. A bolt of lightning created grotesque shadows across the ceiling. Gobber gasped and Stoick tightened his hug on Hiccup.

"What am I Dad?" Hiccup begs. "What's happening to me?"


	6. Chapter 6

No one brought up the incident the next morning while eating breakfast. Hiccup poked at his bowl of overly moist cereal and didn't even dare himself to glance up at his father. His chief helmet was resting at the center of the table while he took a sip from his mug. The pillow and sheet was left dangling in the ceiling until they can find a way to get it down. They didn't want to risk burning it with it singing the floor.

The whole morning, neither of them bothered to talk about what happened, even with the evidence dangling literally over their heads. Maybe, Hiccup thought, sitting at the table wrapped in a spare quilt, no one was saying anything since it was two weeks before Snoggletog. Then again, maybe it was just his father's way of biding time, waiting for the right moment to formally announce his decision to send Hiccup to a shrink.

As for the dream itself, Hiccup knew better than to call it that. It had felt real. It felt _too_ real. Whether his visit happened in waking life or within a dreamworld, however, was another question. But unlike any other dream, the nightmare with the mist remained fresh and alive in his mind, every horrid detail still sharp and clear. A shudder ratcheted its way up his spin as he peers over to the blanket and pillow still lodged into the ceiling. They can easily go to Grandmamma to get it down, but the memory of it will never be as easy as making it disappear.

As he reeled through the images of his dream, the woodlands, the mist, the house, and Snotlout.

Hiccup suddenly dropped his spoon. It clanged loudly against his bowl.

He launched up from his seat.

"Hiccup?" his Dad asked from the other end of the table. He didn't bother to answer. He raced to the door, and burst to the outside.

The morning air hit him cold, its moisture flooding his lungs, reawakening all the pangs from last night. A deep ache seeped from his bones and resurfaced in his muscles as he forced himself to move. The snow whipped at his boot. He raced through the Square and to Snotlout's house. Running up the steps he ferociously pounds on the door.

"Snotlout!" he calls. "Snotlout open up!"

The door rattled and Spitelout appeared in the door. A look of surprise came over his face, though Hiccup didn't know if it was for him or the fact that Hiccup didn't have a heavy coat on.

"Hiccup, what are you doing here?" Spitelout asks.

Hiccup, a little breathless, tries his best to speak fluidly. "I'm, here to see Snotlout. I want to make sure, he's okay."

A questionable looks comes across Spitelout's face. Unconvinced. "May I ask why you need to see him?"

"It's a bit complicated." Hiccup swerves. Behind him he can hear his father calling him.

Without waiting for Spitelout to reply, knowing it would lead to more delay, he pushes his way through and rushes upstairs. He hears Spitelout call after him in anger upon the intrusion, but Hiccup needed to see for himself if Snotlout was okay. Why wasn't it enough that Hiccup was concerned for Spitelout's son, aka his cousin.

Rushing upstairs, Hiccup was relieved to hear Spitelout talking to his Dad, who made it to the door in time to stop him from grabbing Hiccup. He could overhear the conversation, but Hiccup needed to find him before things got ugly between the two brothers.

Upstairs, Snotlout wasn't in his bedroom. Hiccup spins on his heels and dashes down the steps, he can see Spitelout going to reach for him, and Hiccup ducks and slides in between his legs and springs up to race to the backdoor.

Oh, please, be okay. Please be okay!

Prying it open, he finds Snotlout with Hookfang feeding him a wicker basket of fish. Hiccup breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hiccup? What are you doing here?" Snotlout asks.

Before Hiccup could come up with an explanation, a heavy hand clamped on his shoulder. He swallows thickly, expecting to see a raging Spitelout, but he finds his father. "Oh, please pardon the interruption. But we just wanted to pay a quick visit to see our family."

Snotlout raises an eyebrow of suspicion, and Hookfang walks over and breathes in Hiccup's face. Despite the dragon breath, Hiccup smiled. He petted Hookfangs' snout and let the relief course through his body.

"Come along Hiccup. It's time we go see Grandmamma for your training." Stoick urges and Hiccup nods and shows himself out. Spitelout is still standing in the doorway, arms folded, but his expression is less tense. Don't know what Stoick said to him, but at least it spared him the wrath of Spitelout.

As Hiccup steps outside, the cold finally seeps into his skin. Stoick follows him out and drapes a cloak over his shivering body. Hiccup, grateful for the cover, spares his father a shy smile and buttons it down to his feet. Pulling the hood over his head, Hiccup makes his way back to his house where he finds Toothless waiting. The Night Fury hurries up and nuzzles Hiccup where he scratches the dragon's ear. As he readies the saddle, he feels a stare at the back of his head.

He turns and finds his father, brows furrowed in concern.

In a moment of daring, Hiccup walks over and wraps his arms around his father. Stoick returns his hug and takes a deep breath.

"I'm sorry dad." Hiccup mumbles.

"Are you sure about this, son?" Stoick asks.

"What other choice do I have?" Hiccup retorts. "Things are getting worse, and this is all happening as I stopped my magic training. If I can find a way to understand it, maybe I can stop it."

Stoick places his hands on Hiccup's shoulders and gives him a reassuring grip. "I know things are looking bad, but you can do this. I know you can."

"Thanks dad."

Hiccup then mounts Toothless and the two make their way to Grandmamma's house. Hiccup ran a few phrases through his head, trying them all out, then letting them mellow in his mind. Each one clanged lamely against his internal ear and sounded vaguely insulting. He knew it wasn't going to be easy convincing Grandmamma to take him back given that he stopped the magic cold turkey. But hopefully she had one of her visions and will take him back without Hiccup needing to explain himself much. As they flew over the cottage, black smoke belched from the chimney and the cottage's windows give of a muted yellow glow. Up ahead, Hiccup could still see the Pentagram and the grass. It still remained empty of the snow and the flowers powered through the frigid weather to continue to bloom.

Landing Toothless off to the side of the Pentagram, despite what happened the previous night, there was a secret joy as he approached the home. But there was another part of him, a stronger part, that held him back and kept him from betraying any emotion. It brought with it a wave of cold detachment that sent a slow freeze over the initial impulse to start spilling out everything that had transpired to Hiccup's all-too-sudden departure from magic.

Knocking on the wood door, Hiccup couldn't get past the uneasy feeling of being watched as he glanced at the windows with their shades pulled halfway down, to look like glowing eyes examining all who dare to walk up the steps to the home.

Hiccup swallows deeply as he hears the tumbler latch click, and at the last second he remembers to pull his sleeve over his hand to cover the ten-point star. Then with one quick motion, the door was pulled open.

Grandmamma, dressed in a long tunic with studded gauntlets, stands in the doorway. Her face was devoid of emotion, but Hiccup could still feel that level of expectation, like she was waiting for an apology. But before Hiccup could even say a word Grandmamma beat him to it.

"Hiccup sweetie! You're alive!" she squeals as she wraps him in a hug.

"Uh, last time I checked." He says through an awkward laugh. "So listen, Grandmamma, I just wanted to say-"

But with a hand, palm facing him, he stops and Grandmamma speaks.

"First thing's first, come in I need to give you something." She says as she pulls Hiccup through the threshold of the home.

Hiccup was grateful to be relived of the cold, but it curries him as to why Grandmamma was so willing to welcome him back with open arms. Hiccup doesn't say anything as he watches the old woman waddle over to a table draped in a purple cloth and with a skull with a melted candle on the top, a normal candelabrum posted next to it. Hiccup watched as she drew out a mahogany box. Grandmamma goes over to Hiccup and practically thrust it toward him.

"Take this."

Hiccup frowned at the small, flat, post-card box, uncertain whether he should accept it. Grandmamma continued to hold the box steady. At last Hiccup's curiosity outmuscled his indecision. He took it. Grandmamma retracted immediately and went over to her podium.

"What?" she said. "Don't look at me like that. It's not a freaking tarantula. Would you just open it already?"

Hiccup clasped the box between both hands and carefully opened the hinged lid. Inside, the thin chain of a silver necklace glimmered. A tiny charm in the shape of an open hand rested in the middle of a black velvet cushion, its fingers with delicate filigree. In the center of th palm, a tiny iridescent opal lay nestled in the dish of a circular setting.

The necklace sparkled like moonlight on water.

Hiccup let out a small sound of surprise. The pendant was so beautiful and intricate that he had no doubt the stone it held was genuine. It struck him as an extravagant token. At the same time, the well-worn state of the box gave him the impression that the charm was old – an antique, if he had to guess. Though the pendant had five fingers, it looked different from any representation of a hand he'd seen. It had two thumbs, the tips of which curved outward on either side. It hung from the chin so the fingers would aim downward, toward the wearer's feet.

"It's called a hamsa," Grandmamma said. "Belonged to my great-grandmother."

Hiccup looked up. He clamped the box shut with a sharp snap and, shaking his head, held it back to Grandmamma. "I can't accept this."

"Take it sweetie. Besides, you apparently need it until we can get your powers under control." She blurts

Hiccup looks to her startled. He hesitated trying to think of a tactful way to say what he was thinking. "So does this mean you'll take me back?"

"Of course honey. I never had anything against you. I understand if you're frightened, but you just need to learn to get past that and keep trying until you're comfortable."

"I understand." Hiccup smiles.

"Good!" Grandmamma says with a clap of her hands. "Now let's get this thing on you and begin out training."

Grandmamma then plucked the necklace free of its velvet bed. The chain untraveled like a silver snake. The hamsa dangled at the end, the opal gleaming, as iridescent as the sparkling snow that coated the world outside. She unlatched the necklace and stood. Hiccup kneeled down to get to Grandmamma's level, and she lowered the chain over his head and latched the clasp in place.

"So what's this thing called again?" Hiccup asks as he rises.

"A Hamsa. It is thought to protect against the "evil eye" and is a popular motif in both Jewish and Middle Eastern jewelry. The name "hamsa" comes from the Hebrew word "hamesh," which means five. "Hamsa" refers to the fact that there are five fingers on the talisman, though some also believe it represents the five books of the Torah." She explained. "The eye is thought to be a powerful talisman against the "evil eye."

"What's the "evil eye?" Hiccup asks.

"The evil eye is a certain "look" that can cause bad luck for the person at whom it is directed." She says. "This "look" often originates with a person, though not always intentionally. Legends about the evil eye give both regular people and those with certain powers the ability to cast the evil eye."

Hiccup nods informatively and then it dawns on him. She knew he'd need the talisman. That can only mean . . .

"You saw what happened?" Hiccup blurts.

He didn't to explain the whole thing for Grandmamma to go rigid. Then she relaxes and turns. "Yes." She simply answers.

Hiccup bites back a flood of questions that threaten to pour forth from his mouth. He knew she'd know, and yet there were still questions he wanted her to answer. Did she see what happened to Snotlout, does she know about the mist, the star? No doubt she'd be willing to answer, but with the feeling he's walking on eggshells as it is, he decides to store them away for later. Or at least answer them on his own.

The hamsa explains that she saw the mist, what it's capable of, and that it's after Hiccup. And since this was the most important question on his mind, relief floods him along with the worry of what could happen if it comes to the village. But Hiccup tries to focus back on his magic.

Through the course of the next few days, Hiccup practiced day and night with his magic. Grandmamma would assign him homework spells and Hiccup would practice in the backyard. Toothless wouldn't be far from him, he practically stood by Hiccup's side for everything. Stoick would watch from the door, that undeniable look of concern on his face, but as the days progress on, his features soften to an understanding and allowance.

The best part would be that the dreams have, not ceased, but eased as Hiccup starts to gain more control of his powers. As he gained more control, it felt as though he could have better control of his dreams. Maybe the answer really was in going back to the magic. It seemed to have its benefits, and the talisman Grandmamma gave him that added sense of protection. Hiccup had advanced further than any student Grandmamma ever trained. He's proven his worth and capability and had mastered nearly all the points on the Pentagram.

As the days past, Jolene seemed to stop by more than once a day. She would pay constant visits to the house, they two would talk all afternoon. He would give her flights around the village and they'd watch the sun set over the horizon. He even took her to the Academy where she watched them train dragons. She seemed a little precautious when she found out about Hiccup's hamsa, but he assumed it was because he thought she assumed it was more feminine. With his magic squished into the schedule, Hiccup nearly forgot about the Academy. But that didn't stop him from noticing Astrid and Heather's looks towards Jolene. Jealousy was the first thing that came to his mind, but he knew better than to simply brush off any of Astrid's 'feelings'.

For some time, things seemed to have simmered down to where calling it normal was a possibility. Five days before Snoggletog, Hiccup took a walk through the village to pick up a sack of flour for his father, Toothless strolling along at his side. With his heavy cloak wrapped around himself, Hiccup trudged his way through the Plaza toward Mulch and Bucket's wheelbarrow. As he was passing, a flash of dark kept catching his eyes. To make sure he wasn't hallucinating it, he stopped at a local food stand, pretending to inspect the fruit while his eyes scanned over the arms of both old and young men.

Hiccup swallowed thickly as he kept seeing the ten-point star.

There were more than one on several Vikings' arms. Hiccup had to wonder if it could be a sign that he was asleep right now, that all this as a dream. If he was in a dream, then that would explain why he's seeing the ten-point star. His had since vanished, and now it's reappearing on all of the men in the village. The virus was still a logical answer to everything, but Hiccup had since learned better that not all things can be explained.

_Am I dreaming again?_

But the world around him, the people, Toothless, the market and the weather, it all seemed so normal, so real. Hiccup looked up. A dry piece of fabric, suspended against the far ledge, hung where it always had. The two men wearing tunics and heavy coats checking the freshness of the fruit. Glancing around, Hiccup could even see a small footprint of a Terrible Terror placed between two burlaps sacks filled with apples.

Then again, Hiccup reminded himself, that this was exactly what made dreams so tricky. Because no matter what, if you were in one, a dream always seemed real. This _was_ how all the other dreams started, always with him in the village. Could he have dreamed the events of that past few days, though? Or was that how it always wen, and he just forgot about all that later, after he woke up?

Hiccup stepped to his left two steps to avoid suspicion, and watched as another man came over to the stand. As he reached out a hairy arm to pick up an orange, Hiccup saw the ten-point star at the middle of his forearm. But there were more than one, trailing up and disappearing under the sleeve of his tunic.

Maybe he _wasn't_ dreaming. Maybe these marks were spreading because it really _is_ a virus of some sort. But if he couldn't be certain by looking at a clock, then how else _could _he tell? Leaving the fruit stand, Hiccup went to Mulch and Bucket's wheelbarrow where he just went and picked up the sack with his name written on a piece of paper. Slinging it over his shoulder, he pressed on, trying to decipher if it was a dream. A

As he neared the Academy, Hiccup swiveled to face the entrance. As he passed it, Hiccup recalled something else Grandmamma had told him. He had confessed about his dreams he's been having and Grandmamma gave him techniques to try a long with the magic.

She said that if he could wake up in his dreams, if he could realize he was in one, then to some extent, he could control things that happened. One thing was certain. If he was dreaming, then that had to mean he would be able to do things he couldn't in waking life. Or at least, something he'd never tried before.

Mounting Toothless, Hiccup secured the sack of flour to Toothless' saddle, they flew off to the woods.

Standing in the Cove, the water gently rippling across the surface. Autumn birds chirping in the vacant branches. Hiccup took a deep breath, gazing at the long span of land in front of him. His cloak resting on a rock next to Toothless who looked to him in curiosity.

If this was a dream, then he shouldn't have to think about it.

Hiccup broke forward into a sprint. Hiccup lifted his arms. Bending forward, using his gained momentum, he launched in a round-off. The world blurred, becoming a mesh of light and streaking colors. Catapulting into a midair Arabian, knees tucked in, he became weightless. Then, _bam_, his feet met the bare ground, ankles jarring from the impact on the hand, cushion-free surface.

But like a windup toy set into motion, there would be no stopping.

A millisecond later and he'd completed the second round-off, pulled through the hands-free whip, and finished the back handspring, air whistling in his ears.

His feet slammed the ground and he pushed off for the last time, hard as he could. Clutching his arms in tight, he launched upward, recognizing somewhere in the back of his mind that this was the longest pass he'd ever attempted.

The air greeted him, holding him like a stray leaf in its nonexistent grasp as he twisted once, _twi_-

The ground rushed him, as fast as the teeth of a speeding Night Fury. He completed the rotation and his heels connected with the dirt floor, but like a spinning plate, the ground whizzed out from beneath him.

He heard Toothless cry out and gave his own strangled cry, which the ground pounded out of him as it slammed him back hard, like the palm of a giant hand.

Hiccup lay motionless, his muscles going slack.

There was a moment of silence as he stared up at the rows of fluffy clouds, high, high above. He focused in a patch of algae on a rock near the waterline of the lake, and it helped steady his swirling vision. Then his ears began to ring, the blood rushing through his skull loud enough that he didn't hear the sound of heavy footsteps until a moment later toothless converged on him.

Hiccup struggle dot sit up, his entire body humming with a mixture of adrenaline and embarrassment. Well, at least it was just Toothless. Even though he felt no immediate pain, he knew better than to think it wasn't coming. It would. Later. Tonight. Worse in the morning.

Toothless cooed.

"I'm fine, buy." Hiccup manage to croak. His voice sounded small and far away I his still-ringing ears. He felt suddenly tiny himself, too, as though he were a gnat in a room with an elephant.

Slowly, achingly, Hiccup brought himself back to his feet.

_No_, Hiccup thought as his head began to pound.

This was defiantly not a dream.


	7. Chapter 7

After a week of regaining his control of magic, as well as maintain his job at the Academy, like the snow, Hiccup's connection to the other side, to the dreamworld, had abruptly ceased to be, leaving his small connection of recent experiences to thaw in the stark glare of reality.

It was now exactly a mere week before Snoggletog. The big tree at the center of the village was nearly complete and a fresh powder of snow sprinkles across the village. The sun had finally penetrated through the mush of clouds, once again spreading its warm rays along the houses, promising a new and better day.

Grandmamma had managed to explain Hiccup's blankets fading through the floor, as well as himself. It was a rare anility known as 'Density Shifting'. An ability most warlocks have trained years to master. It most likely activated with Hiccup's magic, then it spiked when the adrenaline from Hiccup's dream. He was scared to hit the ground in his dream, and in result, phasing through was his solution. With coaching and focus, Hiccup had managed to pull the blanket and pillow from out of the floorboards. Grandmamma speculates that it activates when he has a spike of adrenaline, or at least if he focuses.

Hiccup proved this theory when he spilled a bowl of fruit at him, and when he tried to catch the bowl, it phased through his hands. When it had flattened on the floor, Hiccup tapped it, and nothing happened. So he closed his eyes and imagined his hand phasing through the bowl.

And it did.

Today Hiccup was spending his time at the Academy. Everyone was relieved to have him back and he was glad to be back. It felt so long since the last time he had been there. Jolene came along to see what goes on and simply watches as the Vikings practice combat, training their dragons or practicing battle strategies.

Her mere presence made Hiccup feel all warm and fuzzy inside. But as for Astrid, it only agitated her beyond recognition. The way she constantly stared at Hiccup. She constantly dotes on him. Tracing her fingertips along Hiccup's arms, constantly playing with his hair. And the way Hiccup looks at her, it's like, he's completely entranced by her. Astrid recalled even seeing him at her house. She'll model different of her dresses, he'll brush her hair.

It was completely unnatural of him.

And when she' not around, he's normal. Something's up.

But when they're together, the way she looks to him, it's almost, disturbing. Like she's looking at her reflection, or a fountain of youth.

As Toothless disintegrates Stormfly's spines in a self-defense practice, Hiccup immediately called off the class and rushed straight to Jolene. Irritated, Astrid shamelessly walked over and pulled Hiccup aside. Offering so much as a, "Excuse us." And a fake smile.

When they're under the cover of the gate entrance, Hiccup wrenches his arm free. "What is it Astrid? That was completely rude!" he hisses in a whisper.

"Hiccup, what has happened to you? You're different." She retorts.

"Where have you been the last few weeks?" He answers.

Astrid takes a deep breath, lowering her irritation. "I mean, what's going on between you and Jolene? You guys seem, interested."

Hiccup looks to her surprised, but his cheeks warming. "Uh, well, uh. She came to visit me while I was home sick, and we just started talking."

"Oh, how sweet." Astrid snaps, the bitterness in her tone too obvious.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hiccup pressed.

Astrid takes a pause, deciding how to arrange her words without it seeming like she' judging or trying to sound snobbish. Looking into Hiccup's eyes, she sighs. "Look, I'm just trying to help you here. I, I saw Snotlout at her house last week. And after that, nearly half the men in the village. I just . . . just thought I'd make you aware."

She dares herself to look to Hiccup again. His expression remained blank, though his gaze chiseled into her, causing the world around her to smudge into oblivion, and she herself unable to break away.

Did he think she was lying? Then again, with Heather in her background, what else was there for him to think, but even he knew now that her feelings in situations were at worth acknowledging.

Something about the wounded look in his eyes suddenly made her want to take it back, but she kept her mouth shut knowing he deserves to know the truth. But she tried to ease the damage. "I don't think it means what you're thinking, but I just wanted to make you aware."

She tried to reach out and touch his arms, but Hiccup stepped back out of her reach. A clenching pain seized her heart, and she notices Hiccup tugging his sleeves down. He didn't say anything and that's what worried Astrid. The fact that he looked genuinely hurt made her flood with guilt.

"I'm sorry," she murmured. "I didn't mean to . . . its' just . . . lately it's been hard getting your attention."

"I've got a lot on my mind."

"I know that," Astrid went on. "I know you well enough to tell when something's . . . not right. The only difference now is that you won't talk about it. Actually, you don't say much of anything. It's almost like you're suddenly . . . somebody else."

Hiccup sighed, his shoulders dropping as he gazed off, narrowing on a small kink in the stone floor of the Academy. "Maybe I am." He muttered.

"Please don't think of this as me being jealous, which I'm not, but, I just want you to be aware." Astrid finally finished.

"Yeah," hiccup says, but his voice was distant. "Thanks."

Then he steps forward and passes Astrid, lightly bumping her shoulder. The pain of her heart increases and she actually feels it beat faster, thumping against her chest so hard it was painful. She slightly turns to look over her shoulder and watches Hiccup walk back over to Jolene who was occupied with Fishlegs and Snotlout surrounding her. Snotlout had strange pointed marks running all up his arms, she doesn't know where he got them, but she noticed it's been appearing on the men all over the village. Then she draws a gasp as she sees Jolene smile, get up from her seat, and takes Hiccup's hand, intertwining their fingers. Her pride deflates as they leave the Academy that way, and just before they disappear behind the corner, Jolene looked over her shoulder, looking directly at Astrid.

She flashed a perfect white-teeth smile, and strolls away with Hiccup.

Anger floods Astrid and she fists her hands, her nails digging into her palm. Heather walks over, her gaze on the exit where Hiccup and Jolene were. "What was that about?"

"Little Miss Perfect is trying to rattle my cage." Astrid answers through grit teeth.

"Well, judging from that look I'd say she succeeded." Heather says folding her arms.

"Something's not right about her. I have a strange feeling."

"Is it the same feeling you had when I came to Berk?" Heather asks.

"Exactly," Astrid answers. "Only a lot worse."

"Why won't you just admit you're jealous because Hiccup likes her?" Heather asks, her eyes, like two gleaming marbles, look in Astrid's direction.

"Because there's a difference between being jealous, and being aware." Astrid answers. "And I am becoming very aware of this woman."

The two girls leave the Academy, Heather riding with Astrid as they made the ride toward the Square. Leaving Stormfly at Astrid's house, the girls take a walk through the village while discussing Jolene.

"Look, I'm not one to deny a woman's intuition, but I can't get over how jealously at _least_ plays a part in all of this." Heather states.

"I'm not jealous," Astrid denies. "I just don't trust her."

As they pass the market street, both girls simultaneously examine every man's arm from the village. Each containing one or more impressions of a pointed star trailing up their arms. Astrid narrows her eyebrows and tries to look closely without being spotted.

"I just feel like there's some kind of connection between Jolene and those marks on the men's arms." she whispers in Heather's ear.

"What makes you think that?"

"Because every one of the men that have those marks, I've seen them walk to Jolene's home." Astrid confirms, and this makes Heather look to her in stern surprise.

But before she could ask, a screech from behind calls their attention. Fishlegs comes running up in a state of terror. "Astrid! Where's Hiccup?!"

"Uh, at home probably. Why what's going on?"

Fishlegs is physically shaking as he tries to talk, but he can't so he substitutes. "We just need to get Hiccup!"

The three race to Hiccup's house, and are reluctant to find him in his room with Toothless, alone.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" He asks, Toothless raising his head and patting his tail. Seeing Fishlegs in his state of panic, Hiccup stands up from his chair.

"Hiccup, there's something in the forest you need to see." Is all he says, too terrified to continue.

"Alright, let's get Snotlout and the twins and head out." He orders.

Flying off to the forest, Fishelgs navigates them to a secluded area about two kilometers from the Cove. Landing the dragons within the tree line, everyone mounts off and slowly enters a large outcropping of rocks near a river.

Foliage and throne bushes hug the base of a rock wall that climbs its way upward, cradling a waterfall that pours directly into the river. There was a walled garden a secret garden, like something out of a book. The stone wall was worn away in places and completely broken into others. Skipping across the stones leading behind the waterfall, Hiccup pushed through a curtain of vines that hid an old, allege-covered archway.

"So what exactly are we looking for?" Snotlout asks with an annoyed tone in his voice.

"It was over there." Fishlegs points a shaky hand toward the rock wall.

Hiccup slowly eases in, and picks up the faint sound of digging. He peers over a bush and finds an old man kneeled on the ground desperately clawing at the ground, bits of dirt and rubble arching through the air. Fishlegs whimpers as Hiccup emerges from the bush, completely exposing himself.

"Uh" he nervously clears his throat. "Excuse me."

The man immediately stops digging. Hiccup was about to go on, but the man jerked around to look at him, and fear welled in Hiccup's throat. Skin gaunt and inhuman. His cheeks sunken inward lips shriveled back. His eyes, hollowed, the pupils of his eyes like pinpricks.

"No," he whispers. He takes a step back and the man rises.

He moans in aggravation and raises his arms and lets out an unworldly scream. Hiccup stumbles back and the other teens step back. The man runs for a giant boulder, lifting it like it was a pebble and chucks it for Hiccup.

"Hiccup!" Astrid cries.

In an instant, the boulder blasts to smithereens and Toothless jumps over Hiccup, hissing. Hiccup pushes himself to his feet. "Thanks bud."

"Uh, Hiccup . . ." He hears Snotlout call.

Looking to the side, four more zombies emerge and Fishlegs shrieks in horror. Two of them, younger boys, hiss and charge for Hiccup, but he takes the initiative and fists his hands. Two balls of white light flicker and glow, then hiccup brings them up and shoots them at the zombie pair. The two boys are sent flying back and skittering in the dirt.

"Whoa!" Fishelgs exclaims, a sudden change in emotion. "Energy bolts! How did you do that?!"

"Later Fishlegs!" Hiccup protests as the men get up.

"They look like villagers!" Astrid says as she readies her axe.

"Try not to hurt them, maybe we can reverse this . . . whatever this is." Hiccup says.

Another man closest to Snotlout grips the trunk of an oak, yanks it free like a weed and runs to swing at him. Snotlout jumps back and onto Hookfang. "Try not to hurt them?!" he shouts.

Everyone mounts their dragons while Hiccups stays to the ground. One man hisses and charges Hiccup. Before Toothless could shoot the man off, the second jumps on Toothless' back and tries to scratch at his skin. The one man pins Hiccup to the trunk of a free, and hisses, but Hiccup knees him back, and the man yelps in pain. He's back a few feet, and as he charges, he howls like a demon. Hiccup ducks and rolls as the man's fist crashes into the trunk. It penetrated in, but not all the way through. Hiccup pushes to his feet as the man wrenches his arm free and rips off a thick branch.

Charging for Hiccup, Hiccup fists his hands, but before he could get close, a bright blast scorches the dirt. Before checking to see who it was, Hiccup rushes forward and claws his hands. Lightning flickers at the center and he grabs the wrists of the zombie man. Hiccup's eye glow icy blue and the lightning travels up the man's arms, shocking him through his muscles and his hair spikes one end. In a high-pitched screech of pain, then man blasts back sliding across the dirt until when he comes to a stop.

Hiccup looks up and finds all the dragons were downed and fighting in teams rather than aerial attacks, but the sudden save has pulled their attention to the sky.

Hiccup's mouth drops on aw.

Jolene floated in the sky, above the tree line. Her hair billowing out around her as she floated up and down, a soft but brilliant glow emanated from her body, casting her entire being in a beautiful golden halo. Her dress swayed and swooshed in time with the wind, but opposite her hair. Little flickers of light would tinkle all around her, as if surrounded by peeking stars. Her hair looked sleek and shined from the light, her eyes a pale yellow.

"Jolene!" Hiccup calls. She looks and smiles, but it quickly changes. She mouths something, and despite her height, when her mouth moved, Hiccup could hear her right in his ear.

"Behind you!"

Hiccup whirls around and ducks just as the man was about to swing the branch. As Hiccup comes up, he fists his hand and slams the man in the stomach. He bounces back and pauses he before getting up. Turning to the closest person to him, he charges Snotlout.

"Hiccup how is she doing that?!" Astrid calls.

"We'll worry about Jolene later! We need to get these men back to the village so Goathi can help them!" Hiccup says.

He looks to Jolene and gives her a look of discourage, but she only shrugs and swoops down to fly a few feet above the ground. She brings her hands forward and blasts at two oncoming adolescent zombies. They screech and hiss as she pivots toward the sky. Jolene tries to aim from the above, but the two boys dodge her shots and charge Hiccup.

Remaining expressionless, Hiccup fists one hand until it glows green, and pounds it into the ground. A burrow, like the kind of a Whispering Death cracks and navigates to the two boys, and once it reaches them, two giant roots shoot out of the ground and wind around them. Hiccup keeps his hand fisted as smaller thinner roots spiderweb their way around the men's to secure them. Suddenly a wave of fatigue washes over Hiccup and it seems as though the men triple in weight. Hiccup's arms shake, and his strength diminishes in an instant. The roots quickly rot and shatter releasing the men and Hiccup collapses. Jolene quickly swoops down and catches Hiccup before he could hit the dirt. His eyes flutter open and he looks to her. Her glow faded off when she landed, but when Hiccup looks to her, he still smiles.

"Are you okay?" she asks as she helps Hiccup up.

"I don't know. I felt really weak for a moment." Hiccup explains as he holds his head. Jolene rests a hand on his shoulder in concern. "I'm okay now."

She smiles as Hiccup straightens his form and hissing suddenly draws their attention. The men push themselves to their feet and run towards Hiccup and Jolene. Jolene takes Hiccup's hand and her body then exudes that halo of light – an odd familiar feeling crawling over Hiccup's spine.

"Take my hand, use my energy." She says.

Hiccup takes her hand and she grips back, hard. Hiccup hisses in pain for a moment, then suddenly he felt his scalp prickle the hairs on his arms and neck stand on end, but it felt like he just got hit with twenty-two shots of adrenaline. A small wind kicks up from the wave of energy, and as the men come closer, Hiccup's eyes glow and he spreads his fingers out in a fan. Thrusting his hand forward, two energy bolts shoot out, each one landing directly on the men. They're sent flying back, sprawling across the dirt. Jolene raises her hand, but instead of hitting the men again, she instead hits the rocks above them and they tumble down, severing the space between them. The group of men hiss then runs in the other direction.

"Oh nice work. They're getting away!" Astrid fits as she and Stormfly walk over.

"Sorry." Jolene says.

"We all make mistakes." Hiccup quickly defends and after a glare in his direction, Astrid looks away.

Another question pops into her head. "How did you do that? The flying the energy shots . . ."

"Astrid!" Hiccup suddenly shouts, and everyone's eyes divert to him. Hiccup had always had such a calm demeanor, so to hear him shout sent everyone aback. "Enough." He says through grit teeth. The look of anger and, hatred was so deep Astrid was hurt into silence.

"It's fine Hiccup." Jolene says placing a hand on her forearm. "I'm fine."

Hiccup looks to her with worry in his eyes. She only smiles and turns to face the group of Vikings. Hiccup is shocked by her level of confidence.

"I'm a witch. I have the powers over the earth and worlds unknown. It runs in my family, and while my other sister didn't have the ability, I was the one who was granted the gift."

"That was incredible!" Fishlegs exclaims. "The way your body glowed and the transfer of you energy to Hiccup! It was awesome!"

"I've never seen a more beautiful glow in my life." Tuffnut suddenly adds in.

"So, why didn't tell anyone" Astrid questions, not even risking a glance at Hiccup. The hatred in his emerald green eyes could shrivel her sudden gain in confidence.

"I told Hiccup, but I didn't say anything to anyone else because I was afraid of being accused and, run out of the village." Jolene explains, taking a moment to swallow a lump in her throat.

"Why would we do that?" Fishlegs asks Jolene.

As Jolene explains, Astrid could still feel Hiccup's burning gaze in the side her head. She risked looking in fear that the moment they made eye contact, he would shot out deep crimson red beacons, reducing her to ash. The look was so unnatural that it unnerved Astrid. She had no idea such level of hatred even existed in Hiccup. Once Jolene finishes her story of abuse and family history, Astrid watches as Hiccup takes her hand and gives her a reassuring grip.

"Alright, they may have gotten away, but we'll come back tomorrow and track them down. Until then, they're away from the village. We should be fine." Hiccup says. "Let's head back."

"Do you guys promise to keep my secret?" Jolene timidly asks. "I'm not comfortable yet talking about it with the chief."

The teens agree in unison, but Astrid only looks to her. After Jolene believes she's gotten everyone's promise, she climbs up on Toothless with Hiccup and the others mount their dragons.

"Hey Astrid, you coming?" Fishlegs asks.

Astrid looks to Hiccup who only takes notice out of the corner of his eyes, an eyebrow arched as is impatiently waiting for an answer. She mounts Stormfly and says, "I'll meet you guys back at the village. I'm going to go visit Heather."

"Since when are you and Heather friends?" Tuffnut asks.

"We're actually getting along better lately. You guys go on, I'll see you back at the village." she says, then without waiting for anyone to ask more questions, she takes off and heads in the direction of Heather's house. Anything to get away from those eyes, at least it wasn't a lie.

As Astrid takes off, Jolene watches as she disappears behind a gathering of clouds.

Knocking on Heather's door, Astrid tries to rid her mind of Hiccup's penetrating glare. The way he looked at her, it seemed so, unworldly. And as if that wasn't strange enough, walking her way toward Heather's house, a man approached her asking where Jolene was. He said she hasn't seen him since she started hanging out with Hiccup.

"Uh, I don't know. The last time I saw here she was with Hiccup." She says.

"Then you know where she is! Can you take me?!" the man desperately asks.

"Relax!" she spazzes as she jerks her arm free from the man who grabbed it in a desperate plea.

"I need to see her. Why won't see she me?!" he pleads.

Astrid was about to reply until her gaze unintentionally wandered to the man's arms. And a ten point star poking out from under the sleeve of his tunic caught her attention. Her throat constricted as she flashed back to the zombie Viking from the secret garden. He had the exact markings in the same pattern. But he looked, normal.

"W-where did you get those marks on your arms?" she asks.

The man simply looks to his arms and shrugs his shoulder. "Look I need to find her! I need to find her." He repeats softly.

The door suddenly clicks, disrupting her train of thought, and Heather peaks her head out from behind.

"Hey Astrid." She says, casually. "What's up?"

"I need to talk to you. I would bring it up to everyone else, but I don't they'd believe me."

"What about Hiccup?" Heather innocently asks.

Astrid immediately goes rigid as his glare resurfaces at the mention of his name. She looks away, and Heather immediately invites her in. The two settle in Heather's bedroom, comforted by the warm buttery glow of a trio of candles on her night table. Astrid explains everything that happened that day, and she wasn't surprised to see Heather's after expression after she talked about Hiccup.

"So he just glared at you?" Heather asks after she finishes.

"I can see why he's, suspicious of me since, you know." Astrid trails off, gently referring to how she didn't trust Heather at the beginning. "But, that looks, it was completely not like him. It was like he was willing to kill me for just questioning."

"That's a little unnerving." Heather says.

"I haven't even gotten to my suspicion yet." Astrid says as she takes a sip from the yak milk her mother offered her. "I have a, theory, and I know it sounds crazy, but I have plenty of evidence to support it."

"What is it?" Heather asks in curiosity.

Astrid takes a deep breath. "Okay, so you know how all the men of the village have been acting weird and having those weird marks on their arms?"

"Yeah . . ."

"Well, each one I saw, I recognized because I saw them heading in the direction of Jolene's house." Heather's eyes widen in astonishment. "Look, I know it sounds crazy but, could it be that Jolene's the one making the men this way?"

Heather looks away and to the floor, pondering the question. "It's a distinct possibility." She admits.

"Look, it didn't hit me until just now, but Hiccup's been wearing his sleeves lower than usual. He was hiding something." Astrid tells her.

"You mean you think Hiccup has arms like that on his arms?" Heather asks, fear crawling into her eyes.

"Maybe, but I'm not sure." Astrid asks. "And come to think of it, when I saw Snotlout walking to her house, he was weak and wobbly. And Hiccup was the same way in the fight back in the garden."

"He might've caught whatever bug might be doing this." Heather says.

"Yeah and the bug has black flowing hair and is draped in elegant gowns." Astrid snaps. "Look Heather, you're the only person in the entire village that I've told, so you have to keep this to yourself. Please."

"I promise, Astrid."

"Okay, look I really appreciate this, thanks for letting me talk."

"Of course, and if you need help, I'll be here." Heather officially says.

That night, Astrid skipped her dinner, her appetite dying after her talk with Heather and remembering the way Hiccup glared at her. She took a bath and went up to her bed, falling asleep the moment her head hit her pillow.

A cold breeze swept over her. She stirred. Through half-mast eyelids, she saw her breath puff out before her in the dim wash of filmy moonlight that shone through her bedroom window.

Her window as open.

She scowled, squinting at the gaping foot-wide gap as another breeze, harsher than the first, surged through, causing her blanket curtain to swell. Smoothing her hair back, she pushed herself up onto her elbows, wondering who had opened the window. More important, why? Stormfly was the first option that popped into her head, but she only does it in the morning. When a blast of artic air brought with it a spray of snow, Astrid sat upright. Shuddering uncontrollably, her teeth chattering, she pushed her confusion aside and scooted toward the edge of her bed.

She froze, though, a clangor of silent alarms triggering within as her focus was drawn to the outer fringe of her vision. To the dark figure standing at the foot of her bed.

Her hands gripped the covers. Slowly she turned her head to look.

Motionless, he stood watching her, his thin, angular form little more than a black outline in the darkness. When he moved, sliding one green-clad knee onto the edge of her bed, she heard the soft creak of the wood. Her gaze dropped to the place where the board creaked beneath his weight, where one slender white hand splayed itself against her murky brown quilt.

Astrid remained still, making no move either toward him or away.

She could only mark his steady approach with her eyes, following his spindly frame as he climbed onto her bed, moving toward her. _Over_ her. She felt herself tip backward beneath him. Looking up, she scoured those shadow-swathed features, seeking his eyes through the forest of his brown hair, the only things that could tell her for certain whether or no this was a dream.

But what else could it be?

His face drifted to hover within an inch of hers. She felt his breath against her cheek. Astrid parted her lips, prepared to speak, but he stopped her mouth with his. Her eyes fluttered shut. Smooth and velvet soft, his kiss ignited her from the inside, sending a flash-fire coursing through her, surging to engulf all rationality, all question of doubt.

An involuntary moan escaped her as his lips, tempered by the frigid air, pressed against her moth. She sought it out, warming them with her own lips as he pressed down on her. Fastening on hand to the nape of his neck, she pulled him to her, her fingers intertwining with the brown, familiar soft wisps of his hair.

The moment felt so real.

Astrid pulled him closer still, suddenly afraid that he would slip through her grasp, or that at any moment she would wake up and he would be gone, and hating her again. She felt his hands fall to trace her sides, sliding to burrow beneath the thin barrio of her tunic. They glided upward, gathering material as they went, pushing back the fabric to expose her stomach.

Her pulse quickened, causing her thoughts to disconnect. An erotic, hypnotic hold on her.

A burst of winter wind rushed around them.

She arched beneath him, her own hands seeking to bury themselves under his tunic.

But she found no heat in his skin.

Astrid frowned as her palms followed the corded knitting of strong muscles.

He felt strange to her somehow. His skin was too smooth, his body too light.

He lifted away from her long enough to strip his tunic off over his head, long enough for her to glimpse the jagged line of an angry scar etched like a curved lightning bolt along one side of his torso.

"_Hiccup?"_

He descended once again, his mouth locking with hers, silencing her.

The urgency in his kiss grew, climbing toward ferocity. She struggled to keep up, to catch her breath.

She pressed her palms flat to his bare chest . . . and felt no heartbeat.

His grip tightened.

With a whimper, Astrid tried pulling away. She wanted him to slow down, to stop. She needed to understand what was happening. Both of her hands rushed to cup his face, to push him back. But her fingers fell through on one side, curling to hook onto a jagged cut-glass socket in his cheek.

She stiffened.

Against her mouth, she felt his lips curve into a slow smile.

He drew back, angling to grin at her, displaying two rows of white teeth visible through the aping void in the side of his face.

"I've missed you, too, _blondie._" Hissed a familiar voice.

Astrid screamed.


	8. Chapter 8

Hiccup barged through the front storm door of Astrid's home after he scrambled off of Toothless.

At the crack of dawn, Fishlegs came to his door saying neighbors of Astrid heard her screaming. A raw and agonized wailing that flared the air, it mimicked her being murdered. Knowing Astrid isn't one to scare as easily, Hiccup threw off the covers of his bed and grabbed his heavy coat.

He pounded up the steps where everyone else was gathered around Astrid, who sat in her bed, her knees tucked to her chest, gently rocking herself back and forth. She was slightly shaking, and Stormfly was on edge since seeing Astrid scared, even a little was unnatural.

Hiccup eased his way through the gathering people in her room and eased his way onto the edge of the bed. He didn't want to touch her until she permitted him to. "Astrid, Astrid . . ." he gently called.

Astrid slows her rocking and slowly trails her eyes up his body until she met his eyes. Glassy shock obscured her normally crystalline blue of her eyes. Hiccup furrows his brow in worry. He's never seen her like this. He slowly raises his hand and angles it to cup her cheek, she flinches away as his hand draws close. Hurt clenches at his heart like a fisted hand.

"Astrid it's me. Hiccup." He gently whispers. "Do you understand me?"

Her eyes flick back and forth from his hand to his face. Then slowly, she presses her cheek to his palm. Relief floods Hiccup and he scoots closer, as does Astrid. He gently wraps his arms around her as she burrows into the warm crook of his neck. Hiccup rocks her back and forth until in she settles. Almost as if realizing he was real, that she back I reality and whatever terror of the night was merely an illusion.

"What happened?" Hiccup asks the others as he continues to comfort her.

"We're not sure." Fishlegs answers. "Meatlug and I were out for the night stargazing, then we heard a neighbor calling for help after hearing Astrid screaming from her room. Her parents came up and found her thrashing at the air, at nothing. As if she was fighting off something they couldn't see, when they woke her up, she was quaking like a leaf."

Hiccup goes rigid and his grip on Astrid's shoulder tightens as the event is fairly similar to his night experience. Though this was enough to even rattle Astrid Hofferson. Guilt germinates through his chest, feeling as though he brought this onto her. Hiccup strokes her hair, resting his cheek against her head. He offers no words of encouragement or assurance. He doesn't know what she went through, so he can't say it's okay.

He knew better.

All he could do was comfort her until she was ready to talk. But he wanted so badly to help her he needed to know what was wrong.

So he asked. "Astrid what happened?"

She had since calmed down and ceased her rocking, she was still a little shaken, but just from the way she was sitting seemed more familiar to Hiccup. She took a deep breath, every horrid detail still sharp and clear.

"Last night, I remember I fell asleep immediately, I was so tried. Then the next time I woke up, my window was open. I get up to go shut it, and I stop. And I see a figure standing at the foot of me bed." She pauses as a sob rise from the depths, she clamps her hands over her mouth before it could escape. She forces herself to swallow. "I, at, at first I thought I was Hiccup, but as he got closer," she stutters. "He changed, and his voice, his voice it was, raspy and different." Her words spill out like a fountain.

Astrid's words lacerate his heart as he connects the dots all too easily. Hiccup swallows thickly as he forces himself to say the word he thought, or hoped he'd never have to repeat ever again.

"Hadrian?"

A shudder ratcheted its way up Astrid's spin at the memory of the monster's mouth pressed to hers. And that smile. That horrible smile.

As his name rattled against everyone's skull, they went rigid and immediately shuddered in fear. The mere name of the demon still managed to jolt fear within everyone even after so many moons of his so called 'imprisonment' in Grandmamma's spellbook. Hiccup instantly thrusts toward Astrid, gathering her in his arms, now realizing the true horror she had endure.

"Oh my gods Astrid, I'm so sorry." He plead to her. "I'm so, so, sorry this happened."

"It wasn't your fault." She says, burrowing into his chest. The feeling of his warm flesh against her cheek was more rewarding to her than he will ever imagine. He felt real, warm and full. "But how did he get back?"

Hiccup wanted to offer her and answer, and an assurance that he will lock him back away immediately, but he was just as perplexed as she was, as well as everyone else.

How _did_ he get back here? How is it he'd found a loophole through which to enter his world again? It made Hiccup wonder if a version of that same loophole existed for the woman in _his_ dreams. Or even his mother. He recalled the forest that had surrounded them. The piano the woman had played, and the smell of his mother as he handed him the ribbon.

Other images of the dream continued to swirl through his mind. Astrid's mention of Hadrian had tipped the first domino of Hiccup's recollection, bringing the rest of the dream into stark relief. It was clear that somehow, some way, they had both found a way to enter back into reality.

If so, why had Hadrian appeared to Astrid and not Hiccup? What had he been doing?

Hiccup's eyes glazed over as he brushed his fingers over the hamsa at his throat. It felt warm and cold at the same time. He stroked his thumb over the smooth surface of the pendant, it still held the cold of the frigid air.

"When did you get that?" Astrid asks.

Hiccup dropped his hand from the necklace with a flutter, as though he hadn't realized he'd been fiddling with it. Astrid took it and brushed her thumb over its growing warm surface.

"Grandmamma gave it to me. She said it's supposed to protect me from evil spirits." Hiccup admits.

"When did she give that to you? Snotlout asks. Peering at it, curious.

Hiccup looks to the floor, remembering he never told anyone about his dreams. Up until now, there was no reason, especially since Stoick thought Hiccup was the only one experiencing these strange phenomena. But with Hadrian back, and targeting Astrid, it was best for him to tell them everything that's happened.

Who knows, maybe somehow the pieces will connect better.

Hiccup sighs. "I've been having these weird dreams. Each one it's different, but I feel like their visions. I don't what they mean, but I always get a feeling something bad is going to happen." Hiccup explains. "One dream that I had, I was in the woods, and I found my mother."

Hiccup feel the shift in the room at the mention of her.

"She handed me a sash, and told me to remember who I was." Hiccup repeats, her words floating to the forefront of his mind. "And when I woke up, I found this in my hand."

Hiccup pulls forth from his vest pocket, the purple ribbon with the initial stitched in the corner.

"V. H?" Fishlegs reads.

"For my mother." Hiccup says. "It startled me. I didn't think it was real, but now, I don't know what to think."

"Does Stoick know you have it?" Astrid asks.

"No, he keeps them somewhere hidden in the house. I can understand why, but if he didn't give to me, how did it find its way out of hiding?" Hiccup asks. He looks around the room, then continues on. "The following night, I had another dream. I was flying over the village, and it was like my body was controlling itself, and I few over to a, almost hollowed out house."

Hiccup traced his hands through air as if painting a picture.

"Inside, there was a strange mist, and it floated toward the door. To you," Hiccup point to Snotlout who grows pale. "And then it, it surrounded you, and you became gaunt and haunted. You were like a, like a . . ."

"A zombie." Fishlegs finishes.

"Yeah. And then there was an entire line-up of people behind him, and once it was done with Snotlout, it went onto the others. It's like it was draining their energy. Going onto the next victim once it was finished with one." He pauses to take a breath. "Then it, it noticed me. It surrounded me, and I couldn't fight back. I felt arms wound around my waist, and a breath travel down my neck. Then it vanished and I started to fall. As soon as I was near the ground, the next thing I know, I hit the wooden floor, in my kitchen. My pillow and blanket had phased through the floor, and they were just dangling there. Once I got back into magic, my dreams stopped. And now . . ."

There was a pause after Hiccup trails off. The story settles cross the teenagers and each one slowly connects the dots leading up to now.

"Should we tell Stoick?" Fishlegs asks.

Hiccup looked to Astrid for confirmation, and she lifts her head from his chest and she numbly nods.

"Okay, we'll tell my dad, but first we need to get to Grandmamma's house and check for that book. If Hadrian's really found a way to re-enter our world, we need to get some protection spells so he can't interfere with anyone else." Hiccup orders and no one questions him. He turns to Astrid. "Are you okay?" he asks.

"I'll push through." She says, though her voice shakes, Hiccup knows she's telling the truth. "I'm a Hofferson, remember?"

Hiccup nods and fakes a small laugh. "Okay, we need to get to Grandmamma's house and find out if Hadrian really has escaped." Hiccup orders.

Everyone mounts their dragons and flies off to the home. Astrid was stable enough to steer Stormfly to the home. The whole ride, Hiccup clasped the hamsa in his hand. The pendant more reliable and useful than he gave it any credit for. He had not realized that it was the reason behind the ending of the dreams. It provided a barrier to keep out anyone, or anything that tried to enter his realm of dreams. He was probably the original target for Hadrian, but when he realized he couldn't infiltrate his mind, he settled for the next best thing. Or even the better thing.

Hadrian knew that Hiccup was loyal to a fault. He'd do anything to ensure the safety of his friends and family. He'd risk it all if it mean protecting someone he cared about. And by targeting his friends, it hurts Hiccup more than any physical pain anyone could endure on him.

As they landed outside of Grandmamma's house, Hiccup wondered if giving the hamsa to Astrid would be better, then again, that could be just what Hadrian wants. So he could easily target Hiccup if it's true that he's gotten free.

Hiccup leapt off of Toothless and bounded the steps, banging on Grandmamma's door with harsh persistence. "Grandmamma! Open up! It's an emergency!" he shouts.

The door swings open and Grandmamma stands there with two vials in one hand, and the smell of something sharp and rotten fills Hiccup's nostrils. Looking behind her, he can see the bit black cauldron boiling over the hearth.

"Grandmamma I need to see the book." Hiccup demands. He pushes his way past her before she could even answer. He barrels down the basement steps and strikes the torch at the start of the archway.

Navigating his way expertly through the maze of tall shelves, he weaves left and right until he spots the white trunk with gray metal corners traced into exquisite floral curves, the outer rim traced in silver. His heart thrummed in his chest as he nears it with careful feet. The salt circle he traced on the outside wasn't even moved a slight, not one grain out of place. The latch was still in the same place he left it, frozen in its place. Hiccup grasped the hamsa as he kneeled down in front of the trunk. Above, he cold hear the muffled voices of Astrid and Fishlegs explaining to Grandmamma for the urgent intrusion.

Hiccup takes a deep breath, and, with shaking hands, he places them on the rim of the trunk. His fingers twirl the dial and unlock the padlock. The trunk open with a low growling creak. The hinged lit tilted back, held at ninety degrees by two silver strips of chain in either corner. The book was at the center of the trunk just as he left it. Nothing changed. Hiccup rests his hands on the rim of the trunk. His hand reached in and ghosted across the surface. Nothing radiated like he expected.

He mumbled a few words as he reached in and pulled it out. Grandmamma said to say the words if he ever decided to pull the book back out. Which he never thought he'd ever do. It helps to, in a way give you your space from the beings. Tells them to give your space, and leave him alone. Hiccup sits with the book in his lap. There wasn't even the slightest hum, in a way, the book was dead in his hands.

Maybe it was quiet for a reason.

Hiccup took a breath and started flipping through the book. The pages whispering against one another as they lifted and settled into place. He leafed through until he turned one final page.

An artist's intricate rendering of a young warrior holding a sword in one hand, dripping with blood, and the horn of a dead Nadder in his other. The boy held a scowl and his body sliced with multiple cuts all over his limbs. His clothing torn and ratted, weapons adorned his body as well as a studded shoulder pad on one shoulder. Blood flowed from the Nadder's mouth, and slid down the blade, puddleing at the boy's feet. The artwork filling the entire left-hand side of the book. In the background, the gray slate of an arena poked out from a decorative border that framed the picture.

Hiccup swallowed a lump in his throat as he gazed at Hadrian.

He waited for something to happen. To watch Hadrian breath, blink, smile.

Nothing.

Hiccup stood and still holding the book, he rises to his feet and navigates his way back up the steps. The gleam of the sunlight blinds him for a moment, and he sees Grandmamma with the others. Her eyes widen when Hiccup comes up with the book.

"Is he there?" Astrid asks. The nervousness in her voice obvious.

Hiccup doesn't say anything, he walks over to the podium and places the book open to the page. He steps back and lets everyone see and their looks of perplex only adds to the confusion. Hadrian was freed somehow. And whoever did it obviously needs a pawn and is targeting Hiccup and the others.

He walks over to Grandmamma and pulls her aside. "Did she tell you?"

Grandmamma nods. "I wish I had answer, but I don't. I'm just as astonished as you."

"What do we do? If my father finds out about Hadrian, he'll probably put me on lockdown. Along with adding double, even triple the security in the village."

"Well we don't know if what she saw was real. It could've been a dream." Grandmamma says.

"Grandmamma, you and I both know we shouldn't underestimate the capability of dreams." Hiccups sternly says. And she only nods in agreement.

"But it doesn't make sense," Fishlegs says. "If Hadrian's still in the book, then how did he visit Astrid?"

"I wish I knew." Hiccup admits.

"Look, just leave the book here, I'll keep an eye on it." Grandmamma instructs. "And I'll let you guys know if anything happens. Until then, go home, relax, and let's keep this a secret until we know for sure."

"What about the others?" Hiccup asks, the hamsa plastered to the base of his throat. Hiccup resist the urge to grasp it.

Grandmamma goes over to a table with a small mahogany jewelry box. She pulls out a sliver of paper and hands it to Astrid. "Say this before you go to bed, and it should keep you safe from any unexpected intrusions."

Astrid takes the paper and nods. She looks it over and mumbles the words. The kids leave the house with a less reassurance than they anticipated. Hiccup couldn't draw his hand away from the charm. He clasped it for reassurance, a promise that whatever's happening, he will solve, and they can all rest easy.

But Hiccup began to doubt if he would ever now true rest again.

As the day dragged on, at the Academy, Gobber was hired to teach combat. Everyone too unfocused and rattled to pay attention to anything else. At least with practicing combat they know they can defend themselves. Even everyone knew they can't really fight what they can't see.

That night, Hiccup had prepared a simple dinner for one since Stoick was off acting as a pastor for a wedding tonight. Hiccup had made rice and chicken, but his appetite had since dissipated. He can't even remember having breakfast he was too urgent to get to Astrid. He gave his food to Toothless and dumped the dishes in the sink before stalking up the stairs to his bedroom.

Hiccup strips off his tunic and drapes it over the end board of his bed and pulled out his night tunic. He was just ruffling his fingers through his hair when he heard the front door open.

"Dad?" Hiccup calls.

There's no answer.

Muttering, he trudged down the steps and saw the front door cracked an inch. The knife-blade slice of frost-colored light that streamed from outside flickered as villagers walked past, hurrying home. Hiccup walks over and opens it wide. Peering outside, a fanning of snow settles over the village and coats the houses. Hiccup sighs, his breath puffing out in front of him before he closes the door.

Suddenly behind him, the buttery glow of the fire flickers, as though someone had darted past, inside.

"What the . . .?" Hiccup whispers.

He looks up and his heart pounds when he sees a shadow dart across the wall. He rushes upstairs and when he reaches the top, the room is empty. Toothless follows him up and scours the room. He sniffs Hiccup's bed and his own, but only looks to Hiccup perplexed. He wasn't hissing, and Night Furies have uncanny sense of danger. Just like Toothless found Hiccup hunting with Dagur.

Hiccup steps into his room and walks to the center, rotating in a circle to let his vision search every inch of his room. The skylights were shut and Hiccup made sure to lock the front door. He sighs and sits on his bed running his fingers stressfully through his hair.

"Stressful day huh?"

Hiccup froze. He jolted out of his seat and stumbled back to the first step down the stairs. Hiccup felt his stomach drop, his mouth went dry as sandpaper.

He was sitting at his desk. Leaning forward, elbows resting on his knees, he sat staring at the floor in front of him. His hands hung in between, one overlapping the other the curved of his fingers aimed toward the floor. His eyes flickered up. He raised his thin, abnormally long hand, the tips of which ended in long black, talon-like claws. He waved at him.

He had changed.

He had porcelain white skin, his dark-night black hair fell over one eye and shadowed the other. His clothes were black leather and chains. He wore boots, and his pants were covered with buckles and dull silver chains. He had on a thin strap-covered black coat that almost looked like a strait jacket. It fitted snuggly against his still muscular frame. He leaned forward, turning his head toward Hiccup, revealing the other side of his face. Hiccup froze, his eyes locking on the jagged black hole that marked his cheek, as though an entire chunk of his face had been knocked out, like a chink in a porcelain vase.

Hiccup slowly eased his way to his feet. Fear pulsed through him, and yet he stood hypnotized. He was horrible and fascinating all at once, like a scorpion prepared to strike, all angles and sharp lines and menace.

"So you can see me." He says. The sound of actual words coming out of his mouth startled Hiccup. His voice was quiet, smooth, ad acidic somehow corroded in essence. "That's very interesting," he continued. "that you can see me like this." He smiled, flashing a dangerous grin.

His nails, more like the fangs from some deadly venomous snake, gleamed in the light. Hiccup found himself once again staring onto the hole in his cheek, his gaze held by the movement of the jawbone as he spoke. There were no muscles, no tendons, no cartilage, nothing to hold him together, only hollow blackness.

He raised a clawed finger to point at the missing portion of his face. "Oh, don't' let his bother you. Happens to the best of us."

It was then Hiccup finally saw his eyes. Stark and cold, the concentrated green of pale jade. It wasn't until Hiccup saw them that he finally made the connection. Up until this moment he hadn't even recognized him.

But the eyes were unmistakable. And that's when the spark of recognition ignited in his memory.

_Hadrian_.


	9. Chapter 9

"Why are you here?" Hiccup hissed.

Hadrian blinked, his cold eyes remaining downcast. Tilting his head to the side and knitting his brow, he seemed to contemplate the question. He didn't answer, though. He only looked the other way. Hiccup didn't move. He found his gaze unable to waver from Hadrian, from his face that seemed to struggle and twist between several emotions, finally contorting into a grimace of malice and pain.

"Is this a bad time?" he teases.

"Cut the crap!" Hiccup snapped, taking three bold steps in the demon's direction. "I mean how?! You were locked away in a book! Forever trapped and out of my life! So who set you free?! How did you escape?! And why. Are. You here?!"

Hadrian's eyes flicked up. He shot Hiccup a withering glare. Hiccup was tempted to step back, but he kept himself rooted in place; determined to show the demon he no longer had control over Hiccup in any way. But there was something in his demeanor, in the heavy way he sat, that warned Hiccup against asking and launching the opening bid for a match of verbal–tag-you're-it with the demon.

"Always expect the unexpected." Hadrian finally said.

"Look," Hiccup said. "I already know this isn't a dream. So tell me how you're doing this. How are you entering the real world again?"

Hadrian laughed, a low, deep sound that sent a cold shiver running through Hiccup.

"Hm, I can see you've changed as well." Hadrian said, at last drawing himself to a standing position, his spindly frame towering over a foot above Hiccup's own. "I thought it was just me."

Despite the sudden rush of adrenaline that gushed through his veins, Hiccup refused to allow his body the step backward it so desperately wanted to take. Instead he remained planted, determined not to do or say anything else that would betray his escalating fear. Even though he knew Hadrian held no power to harm him physically, everything about him, from his caustic voice to the twitchy birdlike way he sometimes moved, terrified him.

"Why are you here?" Hiccup repeated. "Why did you go after Astrid? If you want me, come after me." He challenged.

Hadrian looks away, his head slowly turning to the side, to gaze out of Hiccup's skylight. "Sign the line. Make a deal with the devil. Make a deal with the devil in blood."

Without warning, he began to take slow and cautious steps toward Hiccup, as though _Hiccup_ were the cornered animal poised to either strike or bolt.

It was certainly how he felt.

"I swear, if you so much as try to touch me . . . ," he warned Hadrian, the threat railing off as he began to consider his options.

In an instant, Hadrian dispersed into smoke. He shrank, contorting, his frame turning murky through wisps of violet. He whisked around Hiccup and flew to the window ledge of hiccup's skylight. He re-formed and crouched on the ledge, elbows resting on his knees. He kept his gaze out toward the moon.

For a moment, Hiccup remembered how Hadrian's only wish was to be free. Despite his intentions, he made the most of his freedom. It was all he wanted. A small wave of pity washed over Hiccup, feeling a small amount of pity as he watched the nightmare gaze out at the blue moon.

_Make a deal with the devil. Make a deal with the devil in blood._

"Did someone send you here? On a deal?" Hiccup suddenly whispered. Hadrian suddenly cocked his head and Hiccup went rigid.

His body loosened, and inky swirls whisked around Hiccup readied for the blow, a choke, nothing happened. The haze slid back from him, and Hadrian's face, translucent and vaporous, re-formed within the tangle of violet wisps.

"You're necklace," he snarled. "It's a clever trick, but it won't help you."

He took a solid shape again, a foot from Hiccup. Leering at him, he cupped Hiccup's chin with one cool clay hand. Instinctively, Hiccup brought his hand up to grip Hadrian's, but surprisingly his grip wasn't tight.

Now that he was face-to-face again with the nightmare creature in all his gruesome glory, he appeared less vulnerable than he remembered. Unable to hide his fear any longer, he began quivering all over, his stomach clutching at the memory of how he had engraved the mystic marks on his body.

As his courage began to collapse in on itself, Hiccup started to realize how wrong he'd been to think the demon couldn't harm him. Obviously, he could. In more ways than he knew.

Hadrian drew his hand slowly back, his claws grazing Hiccup's cheek. Hiccup winced as the razor tips raked his skin. There was no pain. Only the surge of dread as his face drew nearer to his. "You seem to think you know everything, Hiccup." He snarled.

Hiccup kept his yes squarely on Hadrian's, wide and unblinking. "You don't scare me anymore." He said, even though he could tell by the wistful smile Hadrian wore that he knew Hiccup was lying. Hiccup didn't care. "You haven't answered any of my questions. Now, why are you here?"

Hadrian brushed his thumb across Hiccup's lips. "Do you really believe everything she tells you?" he seethed at him.

Bewildered by his question, Hiccup watched a Hadrian suddenly withdrew. The monster slithered back, his face dissolving, lost once more amid the thickening murk. The violet mist now drifting toward Hiccup's bed. He reappeared on Hiccup's headboard, feet braced against the wood, hands on his knees.

"She's only playing the game she knew for centuries." Hissed his disembodied voice. "The only difference . . . , she _needs_ you." He emphasized.

Hiccup looked to him, working to decipher the riddle. It wasn't like him to play that sort of card.

"_Always expect the unexpected."_

Who was _she_, though?

"Who's she?" Hiccup asks.

"The name is better left unsaid."

Hadrian looks to him, a look of urgency that looked to foreign on his face. Hadrian had always known what he was doing. But now it seemed as though he was just growing used to something new. Like a baby lamb learning how to walk, he struggled to stand on his own while trying not to try too hard. He took a deep breath.

"Mark these words." He said. "Forty days and forty nights she works to seduce them. They'd listen to the lyrics of her song because it would amuse them." He quoted, the riddle somehow striking a familiar chord inside Hiccup's head. "The sing-along did not last long. It started to reduce them."

Instantly Hiccup dropped his gaze and began to drift back to the night he had followed the hypnotic tune of a beautiful woman playing at a grand piano. But once the tune was interrupted, he broke free, the feeling returning to his nerves and common sense flowing back to his brain.

"Why is this 'she' – whoever she is – why is she after me?" Hiccup asked, each word like a timid step into a pitch-black room.

"Because, Hiccup." He said, choosing his words. "I told you. She _needs _you. Without you, she's nothing."

"Who?"

"Come." With a sweep of his hand, he gestured Hiccup to the windowsill. As Hiccup approached, Hadrian hopped from the headboard to the ledge, appearing so light-footed, he nearly floated.

Hiccup drew nearer to the black square of his open skylight. A cool breeze filtered through, stirring his curtain of hair. He felt the brush against his cheek. When he reached the window, he glanced first at Hadrian. Standing this close to him, he could see his eyes beneath his black hair – really see them they were void of pupils. Jade green holes bored into him before turning away and gazing out the window into the space beyond.

Hiccup followed his gaze.

As he looked, the darkness cleared. A familiar image frayed through the middle came into view. In the distance, he could see the outline of the woodlands. A dim violet light radiated through the arrangement of thin black trees.

And there, standing just outside the forest boundaries, Hiccup recognized the curvy hourglass shape of a familiar form. A tall, slim figure clad in an elegant gown.

"Jolene . . . ?"

Suddenly the figure turned her head to the side, she glared at them through one black eye the same greedy way a bird inspects a shining beetle. Hiccup's voice hitched in his throat. The woman unleashed a deafening howl and launched for them. Hiccup was yanked back and came crashing to the wooden floor, knocking the wind out of his lungs as he landed on his spine.

The skylight slammed shut and Hiccup struggles to prop himself on his elbows. Hiccup looked toward his bed and in one blinking movement, Hadrian lunged at him, jaw unhinging, the black hole in his face widening. Teeth bared, claws outstretched, he unleashed an ungodly sound, something between the woman's screech and a demon's howl.

It happened too fast for Hiccup to form his own scream, too fast for him to raise his arms and think 'I knew it'. Hadrian's claws rained down. A shrieking torrent of black engulfed the moonlight. His form loosened into violet smoke, and like a demon sucked into hell, he vanished into the floor.

Blood.

Where was the blood? Why wasn't he bleeding? Hiccup searched his arms for signs of scarlet, expecting the pain to hit him any moment. Those claws, they'd raked right _through_ him. He should be shredded. Still halfway curled into himself, he stood trembling, as though waiting for the moment when he would start to fall apart at the seams. That moment never came, though. There was nothing. Maybe he was in shock.

Hiccup drew himself sharply upright, gazing around his now dark room. Hiccup looked to his desk and found spilled cups, papers scattered and charcoal pencils now littered the floor. There was a last beat of silence, one final moment of suspended peace. Toothless' breath brushes his hair and Hiccup jolted backward. Toothless cooed and circled him and nuzzled his cheek. Hiccup looks to his skylight and the door was shut.

Hiccup hurried downstairs, ran the length of the living room and pushed into the bathroom. He drew himself up to the sink, placing his hands on either side of the basin. He stood there, trying to regulate his breathing, and fought against the urge to puke.

He was cracking up. He was losing his mind right in front of himself. There was no other excuse for it. What was _wrong_ with him?

He couldn't be dreaming right now could he?

Hiccup brought his reluctant gaze to the reflective surface of an ornate metal Gobber gave him as a new mirror. Staring into the deep forest green of his own eyes, he had never felt so alone.

"I _need_ help." He whispered. Pallid and haggard, he watched his nostrils flare as he took in a longer breath. He let it out through his mouth and shut his eyes.

He left the bathroom and went out to the living room where the fire was slowly diminishing, but still alive glowing in an orange haze of embers. Toothless spiked the fire to its original tranquil length while Hiccup took a seat at the kitchen table. Toothless nuzzled his hand and Hiccup held it in his lap.

Of everything rolling through his head, the one thing that stood out was the way Hadrian had delivered his words. It was something important. A message.

A warning.

Was he warning him of Jolene?

Then there was the numerical number forty that for some odd reason had pushed itself to the forefront of his mind. And suddenly he felt like he was running out of time.

A part of him automatically assumed he was lying and just trying to lure him into a trap, but a small feeling of unease germinated at the way he remembered how Hadrian sat, the way he chose his words with careful precision. As if trying to deliver the message across without it being too obvious.

But why? Who was going to find out? Was it the woman? Was she using him as a slave to spy on Hiccup? Clearly she was dangerous if Hadrian was trying to warn Hiccup. But since Hadrian didn't have the best track record, Hiccups just couldn't deny the fact that this could all be a new scheme for him to get revenge on Hiccup for his imprisonment. And yet his demeanor was, different. It was so different he couldn't ignore it.

But if he was trying to warn Hiccup, why would he attack in the end? Then again, the woman did spot them, and their eyes only made contact for a moment before Hiccup was yanked back out of sight. Did Hadrian attack him to fool the woman?

Hiccup couldn't help but laugh at the idea since Hadrian hated Hiccup's guts with a burning passion.

One thing was for sure, this was l too much for him to figure out alone. He decided to visit Grandmamma and take her back to the home. The feeling of being home gave him a better visual of what happened. Grandmamma was up, not to Hiccup's surprise, and she paid close attention. She would ask questions, and Hiccup would nod, relieved to have her connect the dots on her own. It helped not having to put things into words himself.

"Then there's this woman. She came to me in my dreams, appearing almost every night. Calling to me for . . . something."

"Did she say what?" Grandmamma asked.

"No, it was unclear. All she did was play the piano and sing. Nothing really happened except I felt, hypnotized."

"Well it seems that you've become a link, Hiccup."

"A link?"

"With the magic training, you seemed to have created a link between this world and a dreamworld." Grandmamma explains.

"But now it seems like everything's leaking together." Hiccup mumbles.

Grandmamma eyed him with uncertainty. Up until this moment, she had been eager to learn about the details of what happened, the strange and seemingly unexplainable events that had led to Hiccup's newfound powers. Now though, wither her upper lip crimped into a squiggly line of unease, she looked as though she couldn't be sure if what Hiccup was telling her.

Her eyes darted to one side. "About this woman," she began. "The one you said you saw?"

Hiccup could sense her growing apprehension. He felt the nervous tension radiating from the old woman's tiny frame, as palpable as an electric current.

Hiccup kept her eyes steady on Grandmamma, waiting, finally ready for whatever she might ask.

"What did she look like?"

The simplicity of the question surprised Hiccup. He thought about it for a moment, once again envisioning the woman who had appeared to him in the inverted dream version of the woodlands, luminous in swaths of white gossamer and tumbling veils. "She was . . . well, she was beautiful," he admitted. "And at first, that's all I could think when I saw her. She had white skin, like marble. And lone thick black hair. Tons of it." As he spoke, Hiccup traced his fingers through the air around his own hair, his hands gliding down past his shoulders and, before he knew it, all the way to the floor. "She wore layers of white veils that wound down to her feet. And her eyes . . . "Hiccup shook his head. He would never in his life forget those eyes. "They were black. Completely black."

He glance dup realizing that he'd been lost in thought. He focused on the distraught expression that Grandmamma now wore. It was so unfamiliar to him that Hiccup had to backtrack mentally through his words, wondering what he had said that Grandmamma had found so disturbing. Then again, hadn't Grandmamma already seen everything with her years of experience?

Maybe, Hiccup reasoned, Grandmamma was still trying to wrap her head around the concept of there being another dimension. Though, given everything that had happened, Hiccup knew there weren't too many other conclusions left for Grandmamma to draw.

"Did she tell you her name?" she asked, her words slow, her voice laden with such dead seriousness that it made Hiccup pause before answering.

"Uh, no. But I recognized it as Jolene. But it felt like she might have a different name. Like I've heard it but I can't place it." Hiccup said, trying to gauge the source of Grandmamma's sudden trepidation. "It felt like she had many names, and Jolene was different than the rest. Like it began with an L-"

"_Lilith,"_ Grandmamma whispered, her face white.

Hiccup's mouth popped open in shock.

Quickly Grandmamma stood. Dashing, she snatched up her purse and cat. Then, stopping to gather her shoes, she stuffed everything under one arm, and darted.

"Grandmamma!" Hiccup leaped to his feet.

He rushed after as she opened the front door and vanished into the darkness in a swirl of snow.

Hiccup caught the storm door just as it latched.

"No," he rasped, and fumbled to turn the handle. Outside he could see Grandmamma hurrying through the winter bluster toward a mule drawn carriage. He could see her exchanging words with the driver.

Managing at last to twit the handle, Hiccup pushed the door open. He stumbled into the cold, down from the porch and through the darkened yard, only realizing he didn't have shoes on when the snow soaked through the thin layer of his sock. He ran despite the bitter sting.

"Grandmamma!" he shouted, no longer caring who heard. "Stop!" his voice echoed, reverberating through the silent, still neighborhood.

Ahead of him, Grandmamma faltered, tripping over the now snow-caked hem of her skirt before colliding with the carriage.

Hiccup heard the jingling of charms. He ran faster

"Grandmamma!"

"I can't talk to you!" Grandmamma shouted, whirling to face Hiccup who skittered to halt. "Ever again!"

Hiccup gaped at her. Grandmamma, in turn, swiveled away and, pulling the door open, san inside the house, shoving her things into the vacant passenger seat.

Hiccup forced himself to move and caught the door before Grandmamma could pull it shut. "Why are you doing this?" he demanded. "How did you know-?"

The man managing the carriage, snapped the reins. The mule neighed to life, cutting Hiccup off. Its nostrils flaring.

"May Thor protect you!" was Grandmamma's only answer before she tugged the door free of Hiccup's grip. It slammed shut with an echoing clap.

"Wait!" Hiccup shouted, staring into the window-side through his own distraught reflection at Grandmamma as she shifted her things.

"Open the door" Hiccup slammed his palm against the glass. "Grandmamma, if you know something, you have to tell me! _Grandmamma_!"

Hiccup heard the mule neigh. He bucked and snarled before aggressively pounding the snow.

"You can't just leave like this!" Hiccup screamed. He latched onto the handle of the driver's-side door and pulled, only to find Grandmamma had locked it. "Grandmamma! You're the only one I have! You're the only one who knows the truth! Please!"

The wagon thundered forward, snow groaning as it compressed beneath the wheels, the frozen handle tearing free from Hiccup's grip.

"Grandmamma!"

Whining, the carriage gave a granting screech as it swung around him in a wide arc. Hiccup turned where he stood, his hair whipping in his face as the carriage sped past him with a pounding stomp, slashing through the darkness.

Hiccup stared after the carriage as it swerved, fishtailing around the post and speeding out of sight.

The wind tugged at the sleeves of Hiccup's tunic. It pulled at his hair and clung to his bare arms. But he no longer felt the cold. Only the sandlike sting of the snow as it raked his raw cheeks. He stood statue straight in the diffuse moonlight, his gaze locked on the set of wheel tracks that snaked their way through the inch-thick layer of snow.

His throat felt tight, crammed with so many unspoken questions.

He forced himself to swallow them while he waited for the carriage to come back. For Grandmamma to come back.

But nothing happened. Gradually the frigid knife-edge cold crept back into his awareness, and a shudder racked his frame.

How long could he stand out here like this, waiting?

Never long enough, he thought, because Grandmamma wasn't coming back.

Hiccup looked up. He stared at the countless specks that rained down around him, each white flake highlighted against the black backdrop of night, like a thousand falling stares in a dead sky.

He had to wonder if this sensation of being shredded and left to the wind, of being left behind, could even touch what _he_ must have felt the moment he'd realized he wasn't coming back. That was alone. Utterly and completely alone.

"Hey!"

Hiccup glanced over his shoulder toward his home.

Stoick stood in the doorway, washed in a glow of warm light. Squinting at Hiccup and leaning out, he looked like a bird poking its head out of a peephole.

"What are you _doing_?" he shouted.

Hiccup hugged himself tightly against the sudden whip-snap of frozen wind and forced himself to move.


	10. Chapter 10

**~hey guys! thanks so much for all of your great reviews and comments! I've recently drawn a new cover photo for this story, let me know what you think and also check out **hiccupandtoothless22 **on** deviantart **for cool inspired pictures of Hadrian and his gang of Doppelgangers! Love you guys and keep on reading! :D Xxx~**

* * *

By the time Hiccup had reached the front yard, his foot had gone completely numb. So much so that he could only feel the downy softness of the snow itself along with the frozen grass blades as they crunched beneath his heel.

Stoick stepped back when he reached the threshold of the front yard. He gawked at Hiccup, holding the storm door open to allow him room to enter. His eyes grew even wider as he stepped inside.

Against the warm inside air, his skin flared fire hot. His feet prickled, the numbness slipping quickly away, replaced by the sensation that the splinter wood he stood on had been transformed into a bed of burning coals.

"Did you go out there without your shoe?" Stoick asked. "Have you gone mad son?"

Hiccup didn't answer.

Stoick watched him with wary uncertainty, as though he couldn't be sure he was eve listening. "Did something happen?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

Hiccup pushed past his father and made a beeline for the stairs.

"Hiccup," he called.

He paused, but only for a moment. Then Hiccup did what he thought would be easiest for the both of them.

Drifting up the stairs like a ghost, he vanished into his room.

That night, no matter how hard he tried, Hiccup could not fall asleep.

He rolled back and forth on his bed, flipping from one side to the other, unable to make up his mind whether it was better to face his skylight or to have his back to it.

Neither felt comfortable. Or safe.

Nothing did anymore.

Darkness bathed the house, quietness filling every corner. Finally he settled on lying flat on his back and staring up at his vaulted ceiling. He shut his eyes. As he lay there, exhausted and yet firmly wired into wakefulness, Hiccup thought he was beginning to understand Hadrian had once told him in the moments before he came face-to-face with Jolene, or Lilith.

By degrees, Hiccup was growing weary of the night, to fear what the veil of sleep would allow to worm through his slumbering mind, what holes its images could burrow through his heart. And the seeds of doubts it could plant in his soul. Hiccup rolled onto his side again, facing his closet. Huddling into himself, he clutched his blankets tightly. What he'd seen in the dreamworld, with Hadrian in his room, couldn't have been real. It had been a fabrication meant o to confuse and detour Hiccup something Hadrian had concocted to distract him and cause him to lose hope he would give up.

Sitting up, Hiccup wrapped his arms around his knees, hugging himself into a tight ball, and lifted his eyes to the skylight.

Despite everything that's happened, and with this new feeling of abandonment germinating in his system, Hiccup felt a small candlelight of, something, flicker in his chest. Could it be, friendship? Understanding? Tracking back to his warning of Jolene, Hiccup had no other choice but to take Hadrian's word for it.

And even in reality, he was all Hiccups had.

Hiccup sat up on the corner of his bed closest to his skylight. He watched the clouds from an angle that did not show the moon, only that of the sky itself. From here, he could see the dark branches of the trees. Hiccup struck a match and lit the small candle next to his bed.

The darkness seemed to press in around him, as though waiting for him to make a move or dare to step beyond the spherical pool of light.

But Hiccup wasn't afraid.

His eyes remained steady on the ledge of the skylight as he spoke.

"I don't know if you can hear me," he said. "I can't tell if you're listening. I'm not even sure how this works . . . if it works . . . but I know that you've seen me. And . . . and I know what you saw today." Glancing down, he took in a breath, then let it out in along sigh before continuing. "You have to be listening somewhere. Look . . . I'm sorry I wasn't listening before, but I'm listening now. Please. I don't know what's happening to me. I have no one. This might not even come close to how you felt, but I at least understand."

The words were out. He lifted his head, his eyes returning to the skylight. He waited for something to happen, for him to appear on the ledge in a flurry of violet wisps.

"Hadrian!" he whispered, evoking his name. "Speak to me. Tell me how to fix this. Show me how to fix, _everything_; because right now, I don't even know if what I'm doing is right anymore."

Pushing off from his bed, Hiccup went to stand in front of the skylight. Not liking the way the dim light exaggerated the shadows on his face, Hiccup glanced at the night sky. The stars were diminishing, surrendering to the early morning dawn slowly bleeding across the sky. Time continued to crawl by, yet Hiccup stayed in front of his skylight, hoping that any moment he would see Hadrian's face appear, that he might step up behind him, or that he would hear him say something. _Anything_.

Hiccup dropped his head and swallowed back a choked sob that threatened to breach his lips. Fresh tears stung his eyes and blurred his vision. He fisted his hands and forced himself to look away and trek back to bed. Sitting at the edge, he braced his head between his hands, gritting his teeth in frustration.

Just as he was about to except that be might be completely alone, a soft breeze chilled the back of his neck.

Followed by an acidic toned voice. "The elder was rise to run."

Hiccup's eyes shot open, he swirled around towered the skylight. "Hadrian?!" his voice scrape raw at the back of his throat.

But when his eyes landed on the ledge, he halted. He pulled back and, with careful steps, drew to peer at the shadow perched on his ledge. He sat slumped against eh far corner, half of him lost in shadow. Another demon? He looked up, his dark gaze focusing on Hiccup. "I wouldn't cross the line," he said grinning. "if I were you."

He was different from Hadrian. This Hiccup noticed right away. Instead of black, his hair was deep black to blue-violet. As he lifted his head, his hair spiked up from his skull like the feathered crest of a bird. His teeth, pointed like the tips of countless sharpened pencils, gleamed an unsettling indigo. Though his face was whole, he was missing nearly half of himself on one side, including an arm from the shoulder down, part of his abdomen, and his leg from the knee.

He wore no shirt or jacket, which was what revealed the most unusual thing about him.

Scrolling designs covered much of his exposed skin. His chest, sculpted and smooth like a polished statue, depicted minutely detailed tattoos of sailing ships, tossing waves, and foam. A long-haired mermaid graced his existing shoulder, her scaly tail sweeping the length of his arm. An entire portion of the sea epic vanished into the pit of his missing side, and though the pictures themselves might have been beautiful, Hiccup was too distracted by the fact that they had been chiseled into his skin like carvings. That thought, combined with his demonic grin, the garish white of him, and the jagged gaps in his body, made them somehow vulgar.

"Who are you?" Hiccup asked.

"Not who"- he wagged a blue-clawed finger at him – "_what_."

"Fine," Hiccup obliged, "what?"

"Baffled," he replied, "at how you, fetching though you are, could possibly compete with the rest of us."

Hiccup stepped closer, eyeing him warily.

"If I had known about your, ability," he continued. "I would've kept my mouth shut."

Shut? What did he say? Still distracted by his engravings, Hiccup could only ask, "What's your name?"

"My name, isn't it obvious?" he questioned. "Scrimshaw." He drew out his name, the voice low and grating.

"What do you want?" Hiccup pressed.

"Just to survey the scene." He replies.

He finally stood, his frame nearly matching the length of the window frame. He braced his hand against the wood frame and took a relaxed position, one foot crossing the other.

"She was so close to snatching you, hook, line and sinker." He cocks on eye at Hiccup. "You were _this_ close to being reduced to just a mere puppet on a shelf, just begging, screaming, 'Puppet Master chose me!' Scrimshaw says, his finger squinting down until it barely hovered above his thumb.

"What?" Hiccup took a step back, his footstep crunching.

"But then _he_ came along, the traitor, and he enticed you with such valid information. I don't really know if I should thank him, or _kill_ him." Scrimshaw muttered, clutching his fist as it he could crush the traitor he spoke of into bits.

Hiccup took another step back from him.

"There's loyalty." He muttered, the shadows overtaking his form once again as Hiccup receded. "Ah," he said, and began to sing softly to himself in a lilting tune.

"_Hush child, _

_the darkness will rise from the deep._

_And carry you down into sleep._

_Child,_

_The darkness will rise from the deep._

_And carry you down into sleep."_

Hiccup covered his ear, blocking out the sound. He turned away, even though he knew it wouldn't do any good, but anything to stop it. He couldn't take anymore songs. Behind him, Scrimshaw laughed, the lyrics of his dreadful song rising in volume.

"_Guileless son, I'll shape your belief,_

_And you'll always know that your lover's a thief._

_And you won't understand _

_the cause of you grief._

_But you'll always follow the voices beneath._

_Loyalty."_

He grasped his ears tighter, as if trying to crush his skull. But it seemed like the sound was inside his head, echoing bouncing around the inside of his skull. The word mocked him. Beneath is, Hiccup could swear he hear the disembodied whisper of a woman.

"Loyalty, only to me."

What was he talking about? Loyalty? Did he mean Hadrian? Did he belong to the same woman who sent Hadrian?

"_Guileless son, your spirit will hate her,_

_The flower who married my brother the traitor._

_And you will expose, Her puppeteer behavior_

_For you are the proof, Of how he betrayed her Loyalty."_

"Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!" Hiccup screamed as he bumped into the end board of his bed.

He hurried himself to bed. He threw back the covers and slipped under them, the rolled to face away from the demon and his song, blocking out his voice. He desperately grasped the hamsa around his neck, suffocated it in his grip.

But it doesn't work.

The more Hiccup tries, the louder it becomes. Hiccup clenches his teeth and squeezes his eyes shut. He can't for focus, form a single thought, so he just huddles into himself, doing his best to hang onto his sanity.

Hiccup dares a look back. Scrimshaw was still in the skylight, but now he had an entourage of black birds surrounding him. One by one. Perching on the ledge or on some furniture in his room. They kept a border around his bed, the birds repeating the word, Loyalty while Scrimshaw continued the torturous lullaby.

"_Hush child,_

_the darkness will rise from the deep._

_And carry you down into sleep._

_Child,_

_The darkness will rise from the deep._

_And carry you down into sleep."_

A carefully orchestrated chorus of horror begins to spill out of their mouths. Hiccup tries to block out the excruciating lullaby.

If this is a lullaby, Hiccup wanted to wake up. Now! He tried to remember about how Grandmamma mentioned that if you know you're dreaming, you can control it. But the lullaby had infected his mind, and he couldn't form a simple thought, do the simplest task. His body paralyzed, locked in an iron grip, unable to break from it. Hysteria rising.

So he did the only thing he knew how.

He screamed.

Raw, agonized wailing that pierces the air. The lullaby begins to dwindle, but he doesn't stop. He can't, and he doesn't want to; fearing that if he does, the song will dare rise back, louder, higher. He can start to feel talons clawing, raking at his skin. As if he had disturbed the birds and the lullaby, and now they attack with vengeance for ruining the melodic song.

Hiccup didn't care.

He began to thrash and kick and claw. As if ravenous animal had just awaken inside him and is now desperately fighting back in a fit of maniacal rage. Hiccup started to pray to Thor that his father will hear him screaming once again as he tries to break from the haze. That he'll come and wake him and rock him gently to calm him down.

Hiccup's eyes shot open.

His body is trembling and is moist with sweat. He was awake. Hiccup tried to move, but it took a minute before all his senses awakened, and he could releases the iron grip on his body. And even after, he started trembling. His eyes flicked to the skylight and it was clear. A shadow moved at the end of his bed, and suddenly Toothless sprang up onto the bed. Hiccup yelped and scrambled back, slamming his head into the headboard. He grunted in pain, cradling his head until the world settled back into focus. His ears were ringing, but his body was free of the expected scratches.

Toothless coos but Hiccup doesn't pat his head. Swinging his legs over the edge, he tries to steady his breathing. Wiping his wet forehead with his tunic sleeve, Hiccup can still hear the song, and see the demon known as Scrimshaw.

He must've been another pawn for Jolene, or Lilith, whoever her name was.

The sound of steps snaps Hiccup's attention. His head jerks up in time to see his father coming up the steps.

"Morning son!" he says. Hiccup doesn't reply, and it looks like he doesn't need to his father is so built with happiness. "Glad you're up. Happy Snoggletog!"

Snoggletog.

It's today.

Hiccup scrambles out of bed and shoves open the skylight above his bed; too hesitant to open the one across his bed. A cold breeze rushes in his face, blessing his still moist skin. A fresh planting of snow had draped upon the village. Coating everything in a white, sparkling blanket, it looked like a world of fragile things.

"Come on Hiccup." His father called. Hiccup turned to him. "Odin placed a lot of goodies in your helmet. Let's get to those presents!" then without waiting for an answer, he headed down the steps.

Hiccup slumped into his bed. He fiddled for the hamsa, and for a moment, he gripped it hard, threatening to rip it off his neck and chuck it into the snow. But something stopped him. Hadrian said it was at least worth something. Releasing it, Hiccup sighed and worked to organize his thoughts. Stray tears filled his eyes. Without a word, Toothless' dark wings enveloped him, and Hiccup hugged his knees to his chest, and began to sob.

* * *

Hiccup didn't bring up the nightmare that morning while unwrapping presents. Though it was obvious he hadn't slept well, not even Gobber who Hiccup thought would have been the first to launch into an onslaught of questions, wanting to know about the dark circles under his eyes.

Maybe, Hiccup thought, sitting on the stool, wrapped in a quilt and clasping a mug of warm yak milk, no one was saying anything because it was Snoggletog. Then again, maybe it was because they didn't know anything at all. He hadn't told Stoick about the woman in his dreams, about Hadrian, Scrimshaw, even about Grandmamma coming over and abandoning him.

As for the dream itself, Hiccup knew better than to call it that. It had felt real. Whether Scrimshaw's visit had happened in waking life to within the dreamworld, however, was another question.

"Hey," Gobber said, calling to Hiccup from where he sat on the kitchen chair beside the Snoggletog tree, surrounded by discarded multicolored ribbons curls and box-shaped husks of wrapping paper. "Look alive, Hiccup."

He chucked something at him. Hiccup flinched, catching the small brick-shaped package just before it could smash into his nose. Covered in lumpy red paper and too much tape, the thing looked like it ah been wrapped one-handed by a toddler.

The box felt light in his hands, as though he would open it to find wads of old parchment stuffed inside. Hiccup glanced to Gobber, but he had since gone back to rifling through his fresh stack of clothes and blacksmith accessories. Behind him, Stoick sipped on his mug while admiring the new sword Hiccup had made for him using Gronckle Iron. A new silver sports gauntlet encircled one of his wrists and he had on the pair of studded shoulder pads Gobber had given him.

Sitting next to hiccup, Toothless flipped through a wicker basket of fish. Occasionally he would reach up and brush his nose against Hiccup's hand, purring.

Hiccup looked at the present in his lap. With cautious fingers, he began to peel back the tape and pry open the corners of the wrapping paper. He shucked the glossy red sheath to reveal an ornate helmet with a sheet of crumpled-up paper inside. Hiccup yanked the paper free, only to hear something else rattle inside the box. His attention went to the paper first when he noticed faint blue writing tucked between the crumpled folds. He opened the paper and read the lines of Gobber's sloppy handwriting.

_Consider this a token of thoughtfulness._

_Happy Snoggletog_

Hiccup frowned. Confused, he released the helmet from its paper cocoon. He slid his fingers into the dome of the helmet, reaching around until they stumbled across something cool and metal. As he did, he heard Gobber's voice pipe up.

"Hey Stoick, do you have any more things needed to be unloaded in the back?"

In his palm, Hiccup held what appeared to be a small silver, oval-shaped locket. It felt light in his hand and when he tucked his thumb beneath it, it fanned upward and out with a quiet _click_, revealing the face of his mother in a thumbnail picture. The gift brought on a wave of happiness, and Hiccup latched to it with desperate fingers, unable to remember the last time he had felt this joyous.

Gazing at the picture, his mother had his same mud-brown hair, twisted into a fishtail braid down one shoulder. Her emerald green eyes brought on a sense of calm and peace, matching Hiccup's demeanor. She wore the usual horned helmet of the village, sitting upright in a poised, proper position, hands folded in her lap. She wore a navy blue tunic under her breastplate, and leather-wrapped gauntlets trailing up her forearms. Her smile gave Hiccup an unknown sense of relief, true she didn't look _exactly _like the way she did in his dreams, but this was even better. To see what she really looked like. Hiccup flashed back to the stitched Nadder laying in the crest of his headboard. He sniffed as he traced his thumb over the picture.

The thumbnail was clearly painted, no doubt by Bucket. But to get this form of detail, he'd need someone to describe it.

Someone . . . like his father.

Still, he didn't get what the gift had to do with Gobber's cryptic note.

"Hiccup,"

His dad had stopped sipping his mud and now, instead, watching him.

"There's something else." He said.

Hiccup set the helmet aside, unlatching the clasp of the locket and attaching it around his neck, it rested just above the hamsa, the cool surface spreading gooseskin across his chest. What did he mean, "something else"? He looked toward Gobber again, but he only remained expressionless.

"I mean you have one more present left to open."

Brow arched, Hiccup looked at the already hefty stack of gifts that sat next to him on the floor. In addition to the new pencils and brushes for his sketches, his father had gotten him a new saddle for Toothless - quality made, two tunics and a pair of pants. Considering his recent magic training and the locket, Hiccup hadn't expected to get nearly as much as he did.

"What is it?" he asked, feeling oddly guarded.

Standing, Stoick walked over to the tree, bent down, and pulled a thick, medium sized wooden box from behind the tree. A big red ribbon wrapped around all sides. Stepping around Gobber, he made his way to where Hiccup say on the stool. He had an odd, pinched look on his face as he held the box out to him.

"I was meant to give it to you when you turned eighteen." He said.

Hiccup took the both in both hands, but the thing was so heavy, it plopped to the floor with a heavy thud. As he pulled on one end of the ribbon, his father stood next to him, hands folded in front of him. Because of Hiccup's pile of presents, though, he had to stand a little further than he wanted.

The ribbon shrank before unraveling and puddled around Hiccup's knees. He opened the box, its hinges squeaking like a scared mouse.

Inside, folded neatly to fit was a dark green tunic with scale mail armor down the middle. He gazes at it in awe as he reaches in and lift it from the box. In full view, it would reach to his knees. The scale mail armor wrapping around the skirt of the tunic, it gleamed in the morning sunlight. Underneath it was a small note. Hiccup refolds the tunic and takes out the envelope. The silhouette of violet lines showing like dark veins through pale skin. He runs his thumb over the smooth surface of the paper. He holds it against his chest for a few heartbeats before open it. A breath hitches in his throat as he reads his mother's handwriting in elegant lines of purple ink.

_My darling Hiccup,_

_If you're reading this, it must be Snoggletog, _

_And your father has actually waited to give it to you._

Hiccup chuckles as he reads on.

_I made this myself just for you. _

_I know you're only eighteen, or even younger,_

_But I just wanted to leave you with something special._

_Something other than a helmet made from my breastplate._

_I hope that when you wear this, whenever that may be,_

_Your coronation,_

_A birthday, or even a feast._

_You'll wear it with pride._

_I'm sorry I'm not there for the holidays,_

_But just know, I am you mother._

_And I will always be there for you,_

_And I will always love you._

_-V. H_

Hiccup stared at the paper in his quivering hand, able to do little than trace and retrace, through his searing vision, the deep violet ink that comprised that final line. Despite its literal meaning, he knew what she had meant to say.

She will always watch over him.

Always, he thought, trailing a fingertip over the swirls of those carefully crafted letters.

"How long ago did she make this?" Hiccup asks.

"When you were just a baby." Stoick answers. "She wanted to make it for you. She was looking forward to seeing you wearing it, the day of your coronation." Stoick's voice hitched, and he sniffled.

"Thank you Dad" Hiccup say, and he gets up and hugs his father. He muffles into his father's shoulder. "Thank you so much. You don't know what this means."

"I just wanted to give you something, special. You know . . . with everything that's happened." Stoick said.

Hiccup weakly smiles, and as he refolds the tunic and gingerly places it back into the box, he hears the two necklaces clink against one another. It was then he remembered that he still needed to tell Stoick about the dreams, Hadrian, and Grandmamma running out. But with such a meaningful gift still lingering in the air Hiccup decided to wait only a little longer, until the feel of the mood diminishes.

As Gobber gets up to go in back and brew up some more yak milk and cookies, Hiccup starts to organize and round up all the present. A quick knock at the front door caused Hiccup's head to jerk up. Stoick and Gobber didn't call to him to answer, they didn't hear it. It came again, louder this time.

Hiccup pushed to his feet, and made his way toward the door, expecting to see Snoggletog carolers. He fastened his hand to the door. Opening it, he steps out, the winter air clinging to the bare skin of his face. A few stray flakes drifted from an otherwise tranquil sky. The sunlight bouncing off the snow eared Hiccup's eyes. He squinted through the glare, scanning the quiet scene of his neighborhood.

No one was around. Fear tugged at his gut when he noticed the set of fresh footprints in the snow, which led all the way up the curved sidewalk and wooden steps. Hiccup stepped back.

Suddenly he heard the door creak open behind him.

Hiccup froze. Turning his head he caught the sight of a dark blur as it slid away from the scalar siding and darted inside his house.


	11. Chapter 11

Heart hammering, Hiccup spun. She threw open the storm door and charged back inside. Spotting the brass weapon stand, he grabbed the handle of his father's duel-bladed axe and rushed the black-clad figure.

He flipped the axe in his hands and swiped the handle under the figure. It hit solidly against the thing's leg and the intruder stumbled backward, sprawling on the stair with a heavy _clump._

Hiccup lifted the axe high above his head, preparing to bring it down and slice the intruder in two.

"Don't chop me!"

Hiccup stopped short of striking, halted by the familiar voice as well as the tattered dress and pasty grey hair that flowed out from beneath a headscarf.

Stunned, Hiccup lowered the axe.

"_Yeesh,"_ Grandmamma said, a nervous tremor in her voice. "You expecting out-of-town relatives or something?"

Hiccup took a step back, unsure of what to say or think.

Or how to feel . . .

Grandmamma sat up, lowering her arms slowly as though she feared Hiccup might change his mind and slice her anyway. Slung over one shoulder, the strap of a heavy-looking messenger bag blended in with Grandmamma's woolen coat.

Inside the bag, Hiccup glimpsed the green binding of a thick hardback book. His eye caught the last word of the gold-embossed title. _Mysticism?_

Quickly Grandmamma fumbled to cover the book. She looked up, and their gazes met one more.

Despite what happened between them the previous night, there was an undeniable current of secret joy that budded from within Hiccup at Grandmamma's return.

But there was another part of him, a stronger part, that held him back and kept him from betraying any emotion. It brought with it a wave of cold detachment that sent a slow freeze over the initial impulse to start spilling out everything that had transpired since Grandmamma's all-too-sudden departure the night before.

"What are you doing here?" Hiccup snapped.

Grandmamma sobered. Her eyes shifted to the wall. "I came to talk."

"Yeah?" Hiccup said. "I thought you _couldn't_ talk to me. Ever again."

This time, Hiccup didn't hold out for a response. Instead he deposited the axe back into the brass stand with a harsh _clang_. Folding his arms, he faced Grandmamma again, watching her as she grabbed ahold of the banister and drew herself to a standing position. Her thin frame wobbled under the weight of the messenger bag as she pulled herself up. Hiccup didn't help her. She opened her mouth to speak, but Hiccup cut her off.

"So remember the time that you promised you'd help me through anything?" he asked.

Grandmamma's jaw clamped shut. A look of wilted misery flittered across her features. At first the reaction gave Hiccup the jolt of satisfaction she'd been looking for. A moment later, though, he wished he hadn't said it.

"Look, I came to say I was sorry. After that, if you still want me to go away, then fine I will."

"Or maybe I can just call animal control and save us all the trouble." Hiccup coldly replies.

Grandmamma looks to him with hurt in her eyes, but Hiccup looked her dead in the eyes, emotionless. He wanted Grandmamma to know how bad she had hurt him; but even with all that, he still wanted her help.

"I don't think they're open today." Came a mellow voice from behind them.

Both Grandmamma and Hiccup swung around to find Stoick standing in the doorway leading from the hall to the back room, a steaming mug in one hand. With the bags under his eyes, his beard, and the scraps of hair poking out around his forearms, Hiccup thought he looked more irritable and intimidating than when he's in full-on chief mode.

Hiccup's initial irritation turned into an under-the-lid boil and he trained his eyes on Grandmamma. What startled Hiccup the most was the fact that he actually backed Hiccup up after he offended an elder. Was it because he knew that she had abandoned Hiccup last night? Or because he wanted to help defend his son after so much has happened trying to affect his sanity?

"Morning, Stoick." Grandmamma gave a stilted full-armed wave, like the swipe of a Monstrous Nightmare's tail.

Stoick's eyes narrowed to near slits. "Are you supposed to be here?" he asked.

"No," she replied. "But I know you're not going to kick me out."

At this, Stoick actually looked more amused than annoyed. "Oh yeah?" he said. "Why's that?"

As he tilted his mug to his lips, Grandmamma flashed one of her bright smiles. "It's Snoggletog!"

"Humph," he said, and gave her another once-over before turning his attention fully to Hiccup. "If you want her out, just tell me."

Hiccup looked to him in shock and question. He almost wanted to bash his father for leaving him with the pressure. He looked back to Grandmamma and she stared at him in nervousness. As much as he'd want to just toss Grandmamma out, she had valuable information that could possibly be the link to everything he needed to know. Hiccup stood there for a few seconds, as though debating whether or not to say what he was thinking. Finally he gave a long, loud sigh. "Fine. She can stay."

"Do you want her to?" Stoick asks.

"No, but she has information that could be very valuable to me and everything that's happening." Hiccup said.

"Hmm, funny Hiccup." Gobber injected as he entered the room from behind Stoick. His interchangeable hand replaced with anther mug. "You almost sounded like Hadrian there."

Hiccup and Grandmamma both looked to him in unison, an unnerved look on their faces. He had meant for it to be a joke, but his chuckle was cut short from their faces.

"Hiccup," Hiccup looks to his father. "Is there something going on?"

"A lot, dad. One being Hadrian's back." Stoick suddenly stiffens with anger and a sense of wanting to attack, but Hiccup stops him. "But, he came to me, and I think he, tried to, help me."

Stoick looks to Grandmamma and says, "Start talking."

"No problem," Grandmamma says. "I've got something to show you."

For the next two hours, they had gathered around the table, Gobber offering grandmamma a mug of yak milk, she denied and settled for tea. Hiccup had gone upstairs ad retrieved the ribbon, he now has it sprawled across his knee, his thumb nervously tracing over the engraved initials of his mother.

Hiccup decided to trace all the way back to the night he had followed the hypnotic music of a piano and a woman's voice. He had explained about how he had felt, numb to the hold of the music, captivated by the woman's voice. Then when he heard another voice, the woman suddenly grew weary, agitated.

"It's like she was trying to keep me, seduced. But I ignored her and followed the sound, and I led me to mom." Hiccup explains.

Stoick and Gobber go rigid at the mention of Hiccup's mother.

"She was beautiful." Hiccup speaks, his voice pitching at the end. Tears stinging his eyes, but he smiled. "She looked fairly close to the picture." Hiccup said as he brushed his fingers over the locket at his throat.

"That's beautiful." Grandmamma said, her voice slicing through the moment, soft yet intruding enough to turn his attention away from his thoughts.

He dropped his hand from the necklace with a flutter, and shot Grandmamma a look of irritation. He was still fairly upset with her. He continued on, "She told me to remember who I really was, and she then," he pauses. Stoick and Gobber lean in and Hiccup looks up, straight to Stoick. "She gave me this."

Hiccup brought his shaking hand up and over the table, the purple ribbon draped across his palm. Stoick eyed the ribbon with such intensity, and this as the first time Hiccup had actually watched the blood drain from his face, turning him relatively pale. He reaches out, and Hiccup meets him halfway, knowing he wouldn't have managed to reach even the small expanse of the table.

He takes the ribbon and brushes his thumb across the seam. "Where did you get this?" he breathes.

"I don't know." Hiccup replies. "I just woke up and it was found in my hand."

Stoick stares down at it, his eyes watering.

"Is it possible you were sleep walking?" Gobber asks softly.

Hiccup looks to him and answers with a slow indiscriminate shake of his head. "I would have to know where they were to find them."

"Besides, it wasn't you." Grandmamma interrupts.

Stoick hands back Hiccup the violet ribbon and Hiccup takes it delicately. He folds it and stuffs it in his pocket.

As the conversation dwells on, Stoick is agitated to know that Hadrian has somehow found a way to re-enter the real world. Hiccup explains that while his visit with Astrid leaves less than to be desired, it would seem that they for once share a common enemy. Then he explains about the night of the fog that attacked him and how it practically sucked out Snotlout's essence.

All the dreams trailed back to the previous night, where Grandmamma had fled after revealing Jolene's possible true name.

"Which brings me to my point." She says. "I need to show you all something."

Hiccup watched as Grandmamma threw open the flap on the bag, pulled forth a large green book, and laid it gently on the table.

Gold foil glinted on the cover and spine, revealing floral motifs and elegant lettering. The book's yellowing block of pages looked almost too thick for its own binding. Curious, Hiccup edged closer to Grandmamma. _A Guide to Jewish Magic, Myth, and Mysticism_ the embellished title read. The subject of the matter sent a worming sensation through Hiccup's lower stomach. It made him wonder – and dread – how the information contained in the book connected to what Grandmamma knew.

Grandmamma didn't wait for him to start asking questions, though. Opening the behemoth volume, she began flipping thorough whole sections at a time, as though searching for a name. The chunks of pages slapped against one another until finally, Grandmamma stopped the page she halted on depicted a single letter, a large and elaborate _L_. Hiccup's gaze followed the path of Grandmamma spindly fingers as they slipped to the top right-hand corner of the book, hooking the thin, almost filmy paper. This time, she turned each separate sheet slowly, the pages whispering against on another as they lifted and settled into place once more.

As Grandmamma leafed through, Hiccup caught glimpses of strange symbols and squiggly character – probably Hebrew – interspersed between long sections of English text.

Hiccup shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He fiddled with the cuffs of his sleeves, then folded his arms, waiting and yet somehow _knowing_ what had to be coming.

Grandmamma continued to turn page after page, past engravings and artist's renderings of scroll, past detailed diagrams depicting interlaced wheels and six-pointed stars, past human figures cloaked in robes and draped in scarves – until she turned one final page.

An intricate engraving of a beautiful woman unfolded itself, the artwork filling the entire left-hand side of the book.

The image sent a shock wave through Hiccup.

Black hair coiled around the woman's head in thick snakelike tendrils, intertwining with the length of her arms. It twisted upward, too, writing through the air above her as though caught in a gale. Her white hands clutched and pulled at the swaths of gauzy fabric straining to tear herself free from coils of cobwebs.

The lacelike curl of her lashes lay folded down, fringing closed lids, creating spidery shadows against her cheeks.

Innately, Hiccup knew the woman couldn't be sleeping. Her expression seemed too intent and aware, as though she was gazing far into the future.

At the woman's feet, ghouls converged, a mess of sharp tangled limbs and withered frames, of gaping hollow skull faces and howling mouths filed with serrated teeth. Even though they weren't an accurate rendering of Hadrian of Scrimshaw, Hiccup had no doubt that was who the wasted creatures were meant to depict.

In the background of the etching, the craggy branches of pencil-thin trees poked out from a decorative border that framed the picture. The hunched forms of inkblot birds dotted their knotted boughs.

"Soooo," he heard Grandmamma say, "I'd ask if this was ringing any bells, but by the look on your face, I can practically hear them myself."

Hiccup offered no response.

How was this possible? Here before him was the same woman Hiccup had encountered, face-to-face, in the dreamworld. The only thing missing was the silver rim of light that had surrounded her, like the ebbing glow that haloed the winter moon.

Staring straight down into the open book, Hiccup let his eyes shift to the text that filled the opposite page, right below the title, which read "LILITH" in swirling capital letter.

He shook his head as he sank to his seat, closer still to the book, and stared hard at the writing, waiting for his brain to remember how to read.

He could see the words, identify them as _being_ words, but for someone, he couldn't seem to concentrate enough to decide their message. He was too distracted, too swept up in a nebulous world of flashing images and floating memories.

Only one word swam into his focus long enough for him to register its meaning.

_Demon_.

"Now you know why I left," Grandmamma said softly.

Even through his confusion, Hiccup could still detect the residue of guilt in Grandmamma's words. If their roles had been reversed, if he had known these things that Grandmamma had, that she was involved with something beyond a vengeful spirit or malevolent ghost, Hiccup had to wonder if he would have acted any different.

Against his will, his eyes insisted on shifting back to the engraving.

"What does it mean?" Hiccup asked.

There was a pause, and then a quiet shifting of fabric as Grandmamma adjusted her seated position next to Hiccup. As she settled, bracelets tinkling, she began to read aloud from the book. Hiccup turned his ears to the sound of Grandmamma's voice, though his eyes remained fixed on the etching.

"'Lilith, also known as _Li-li_, _Lila_, or _Lilitu_, is one of the oldest recorded demons in existence,'" Grandmamma read, the tone in her voice suggesting that she wasn't relating anything she didn't already know. "'References to Lilith date as far back as antiquity, and she makes her appearance in a multitude of cultures, eras, and regions, including the Highlands, Greenland, and Iceland. In modern times, she is revered by some occult circles as a goddess. Translated literally, her name means "night."'"

Fine threads of ink curled upward and chased one another downward, spreading their way across the page like veins infused with black poison. They connected and layered with one another, intertwining and weaving in and out to depict the curve of a delicate wrist, or to convey the motion of wind through the swells of gossamer veils.

"'She is the harbinger of nightmares as well as death, destruction, and insanity. Said to reign in an alternate dimension, a bleak and desertlike twilight version of reality, Lilith has long been hailed as the queen of mental darkness.'"

With the utterance of these words, Hiccup's thoughts flashed to the dream, where he watched himself destroy the village. Sorrow crept over his fear as he remembered the way he had stared at himself. Eyes devoid of both light and hope. The way he watched himself stare at his father, it seemed he didn't believe he was real. In that moment, the Hiccup he stared at, had seemed hollow, so utterly lost. Consumed.

"'In some traditions, Lilith is considered to be a succubus, who enters the dreams of young men, seducing or otherwise influencing them.'"

Drawing a shaky breath, Hiccup forced his eyes shut. But the image from the book remained, drifting forward in lines of glowing white, highlighted against the black backdrop of his eyelids.

Doing his best to ignore the image of Lilith, he attempted to call to his memory the exact words Hadrian had used to describe Jolene/Lilith.

Despite his efforts, only one sure word surfaced through the jumble. _Need_.

Hiccup's expression hardened, he opened his eyes, realizing for the first time just how well this demon had chosen her target.

"'Lilith can take many forms, such as a bright, starlike light or a white owl,'" Grandmamma continued. "'Most often, however, she assumes the figure of a snow-skinned woman cloaked in white with large onyx eyes. Those who have seen her describe her as a possessing a strange and unearthly beauty, characterized in particular by masses of thick ebony hair.'"

As Grandmamma read on, Hiccup soaked up each new bit of information and began to piece them together with all the events that had led to this moment. The ten-point star. Snotlout's sudden drain in youth. Jolene's repeated visitors. Like jolts of electric current, his thoughts raced ahead of him to make one connection after another until his mind became an electric conduction of linking sequences.

This creature had _stalked_ him before entering his dreams. She had watched him and waited for just the right moment. And then she lured him into her world, making him an offer he could not refuse – an escape hatch into a realm that, to him, must have been beautiful to him.

Through deception and seduction, Lilith had found a way to access that hollow part of him that yearned for connection. Like black oil, she had poured herself in, filling his mind, his heart, and eventually his dreams. Dreams that had not only given her strength, but had opened a gate to this world.

But there was something that was left unsaid that buzzed in Hiccup's mind like an angry bee. It was something in that horrid lullaby Scrimshaw had sang last night.

"_Guileless son, your spirit will hate her,_

_The flower who married my brother the traitor._

_And you will expose, Her puppeteer behavior_

_For you are the proof, Of how he betrayed her Loyalty."_

Spirit will hate. Brother the traitor. Jolene's puppeteer behavior. Proof.

The words seemed to connect all on their own. But was it possible?

Could Jolene had targeted Hadrian first, being he's connected to Hiccup? Used him as a power source, until she found out about Hiccup and used Hadrian to get to him. That would explain the 'married' portion, along with him being a traitor. Hiccup pieced together the story in his head.

Jolene craves essence. So she targeted Hadrian until she found out about their connection. Then she left him behind and went after Hiccup. Hadrian, feeling betrayed, had somehow escaped to warn Hiccup about Jolene's deception. Now that Hiccup knows what's going on, he's literally living proof of how Hadrian had betrayed Jolene.

And in turn, he has now become a prisoner to his love.

In short, she had exploited that very characteristic of Hiccup and Hadrian's that so many chose to judge them by.

Aloneness.

The word drew Hiccup's thoughts away from Grandmamma's voice and back to how Hadrian never had any real friends. It made Hiccup realize how Lilith must have squeezed her way into a similar chink in his own heart. Now Hiccup thought he finally understood why Hadrian had gravitated toward Outcast Island. In the cracks of their village and the lights of their lives Hadrian had discovered a light much like his own. Hadrian had been able to draw parallels between them. He had found a kindred spirit.

Well there's a plot twist.

"_You're not like the others"_

Hiccup tilted his head as the words floated through his mind, drowning out his own thoughts as well as Grandmamma's voice as she continued to read aloud.

It was what Lilith had said to Hiccup that night he had invited her to his house, or rather she showed up and asked to talk.

"_You're special, even in regard to those who have come before you."_

Hiccup felt his skin prickle as the voice spoke within his head again. The sound of it, crisp and resonant, as merciless as it was melodious, electrified the hairs on the back of his neck. A crawling sensation of being watched stole over him. He frowned as Grandmamma's voice began to fade, ebbing away into a distant murmur, replaced by a faint ringing noise.

His focused snapped to the etching.

The woman's veils – they moved.

Hiccup felt the blood drain from his face. He went still as, line by line, the etching began to animate itself. And yet he knew Grandmamma wasn't seeing any of it because she just kept reading, her voice a dim murmur to Hiccup's right. Hiccup blinked deliberately once, then twice at the etching. But now the branches seemed to be moving too. Like clawed hands, they scraped and scratched soundlessly at the age. All the while, the ringing in his ear grew, loud enough to drown out Grandmamma's voice entirely before converging into a multitude of unintelligible whispers. Whispers that seemed to be coming from the entanglement of hollow-faced creatures surrounding the swathed figure of Lilith. Like a knot of interlacing serpents, they began to writhe, their skeletal limbs snagging in the tattered scraps of fluttering white veils.

Then the woman's eyes snapped open.

Two black pits bore into Hiccup, causing his breath to catch in his throat.

The woman's lips parted. Her mouth opened wide, allowing a rushing sound to issue forth, like a kissing surge of wind through autumn trees. It grew louder as tendrils of ebony hair danced and whipped across the page like black smoke. In one great _whoosh_, the birds in the background of the image took flight from their perches.

The rasp of their hoarse caws and the flap of wings joined with the hissing whispers until it all rose into a hellish cacophony, converging with the woman's glass-shattering scream.

Hiccup fumbled for the book, knocking Grandmamma aside in her effort to grab it and slam it shut. But it was heavier than he'd expected, and it slid from his hands, tumbling between them. Its spine cracked when it met with the floor, and then it fell flat against the wood with a thud, still open. Hiccup scrambled backward, away from the book, and crashed into the chair, knocking them both to the floor with a _thump_. He clapped his hands over his hears but couldn't block out the monstrous screech emanating from the book.

In the corner of his vision, he could see Stoick shouting at him.

Then everyone froze, all of them staring at the book as it began to move on its own. One heavy half tipped itself upward, as though pulled by magnetic force. It fell onto the other half with a sharp slam, squelching the piercing shriek at last.

An entire minute passed before anyone of them made a move.

"What . . . just happened?" Gobber asked in a small voice while Hiccup removed quaking hands from his ears.

"It moved," Hiccup said. "The picture. Did . . . did you see it?"

"I saw the book . . . move," Stoick said. Then there was silence between them again, enough that hiccup could hear Stoick swallow before he added. "Just now."

"You didn't hear the . . . ?" But Hiccup didn't bother finishing his question. It was already clear that none of them hadn't seen or heard what he had.

Hiccup tried to steady himself, willing the thundering of his pulse to slow, willing his nerves to steady themselves and his increasingly tenuous grasp on reality to return.

_Reality_. The thought of what that word caused him to utter a short, sharp laugh because, by now, it had begun to lose it meaning.

Hiccup felt Stoick's eyes on him, and turning his head, found himself caught in the beam of Stoick's widest, most fearful stare.

It made Hiccup want to laugh again, because it only went to show how much he really was on his own. Even if Stoick wanted to help him, how could he? How could anyone when they couldn't even _see_ the things that he could?

Still, the moment with the book made him wonder.

If Lilith, or Jolene, already had what she wanted, if she had Hiccup's sanity, and Hadrian locked within her world, then why show herself here and now?

Because, Hiccup thought, she must known that Hadrian had found a way to reach him, to communicate. She must known he'd visited him in a dream.

Hiccup felt himself beginning to smile, while within his chest, a warm spark of courage ignited like a fire. It brought with it a flash of clarity: Despite everything, he was still a threat.

"Hiccup," Gobber said, "I'm not liking that look on your face right now. It's giving me the willies."

"Great now how am I supposed to take that thing home with me now?" Grandmamma adds.

Feeling calm for the first time in what felt like a decade, Hiccup drew himself slowly to his feet. He went over to the book and, stooping, scooped it from the floor. It didn't feel as heavy as it had before. He tipped it into one hand and passed the fingers of his other hand along the spine probing for any cracks or breaks. He felt everyone watching him as he went to the table and slid the book back into the back messenger bag.

"Sorry I let it drop," Hiccup said. "From what I can tell I think it's okay."

"What we're wondering," Stoick said. "is if _you're_ okay."

"I'm fine. Especially now that I understand what it is I'm dealing with."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Lifting his arms above his head, Gobber knocked his wrists together as though he were calling a foul. "Back it up there, boy. I think this is all getting a little thick up in that smart head of yours. What we're 'dealing with'" – Gobber paused long enough to insert air quotes, his fingers hooking like raptor claws – "is actually more likely the one doing the dealing. With _us_. And don't get me started on your usage of the word 'understand.'" Again with the raptor quotes. "What I need for you to understand is that there is no understanding. We're a pair of windup toys to this thing. Do you hear me? As if that wasn't painfully obvious from whatever weirdness it was that just-"

"It doesn't matter," Hiccup said, cutting her off. "It doesn't change anything."

"Uh, on the contrary, _demons_ can change a lot of things," Grandmamma said. She raised one hand, ticking off fingers. "Let's see, their _shapes_, for example. Minds. They can change their minds. Other people's minds, in some cases." She gestured to the book in the messenger bag. "Inanimate objects, apparently. Oh, not to mention they can change _you_. Into somebody dead."

"What I meant is that it doesn't change the fact that I still have to fight this thing."

"Don't you get it?" Grandmamma said. "What do you think I've been trying to tell you this whole time? You _can't_ fight it! Hiccup, this creature, this entity . . ." Her hands grasped and wrung the air in front of her, the right words evading her at every pass.

Hiccup turned away and started pacing the floor, thinking.

If only he could remember the dream with his mother. If only he could recall more of the details. Why had it seemed so real when it was happening and so amorphous now?

"Are you listening to me?" Grandmamma said. "I'm telling you that what's happening here is bigger than you or me or Stoick or Gobber or any of this put together. If you saw something just now, which I know you did, then that means it's trying to get to you. That means it _can_ get to you. It's already put its spell on you. You'll always be drawn to her no matter what. She's already gotten you! Hiccup are you hearing me when I say she can _kill_ you?"

"So could Alvin." Hiccup suddenly interrupts. Not breaking his gaze from the floor.

"That's not the point! I'm trying to dial through that stubborn brain of yours. We're talking about a _demon_ here. Believe me, you can't fight it with force and expect to win!"

Hiccup stopped pacing. He wheeled on Grandmamma.

"So is this why you came back?" he asked. "To try and get me to back down? To tell me to forfeit before I even try? That I shouldn't fight back?!"

"Honestly?" she said. "If I thought it would do any good, I might try."

Hiccup gaped at her. "How can you even say that? Especially when she could be even more dangerous if she _does_ get my powers?! Weren't you the one who cornered me and told me I needed to do something?!"

"I never said we shouldn't _do_ something," Grandmamma said, anger building in her voice. "I just don't know if going to face her is the _right_ something."

"Hiccup," Stoick interjects. "If this costs you your life, I don't want you doing this alone."

"What else is there? How else am I supposed to beat this thing?" he turns to Grandmamma. "Did you happen to bring a book with you that answers that question?"

"No!" Throwing up her arms, Grandmamma plopped down on her seat. Bracing one hand at her brow.

"Look, Hiccup." Stoick said. "I'm sorry. We're. . . I'm not too keen on the prospect of attending my son's funeral. It's just that I know you don't understand what this all really means."

"And that's why I came here to today." Grandmamma interjects. "So you'd have some idea of what you were walking into. You want stop this thing. You'll do what it takes. I get that. I do. But there's something you should consider about why this all happened in the first place."

She paused before continuing and drew in a slow breath, her hands knotting in her lap.

"Demons . . . they don't just waltz into your life and take over for no reason," she said, her voice going soft again. "They might knock on the door, but ultimately, you have to be the one to invite them in."

Hiccup sent her a questioning sidelong glare. "What are you saying?" he asked. "That I brought this on myself? Grandmamma, she _lured_ me! The book says that! You read it yourself!"

"I don't think it's a secret to anyone that you opened the door when it knocked. There's no denying that you went seeking her out in return. You said yourself that you thought she was beautiful. No matter how conscious you are, you're still under her control. All it takes is a single glacne."

Hiccup pursed his lips. Unable to counter the accusation, he folded his arms and turned from Grandmamma, then made his way to the fireplace, where he stared at the burning embers and small flickers. He could've sworn the flames grew brighter as he approached them, feeling his anger.

"Look, Hiccup," he heard his father say. "I know it's not something you want to hear, but somebody has to say it. Some part of you wanted this to happen. To just disappear and leave all your troubles behind in the troubled world where it belongs."

Hiccup's gaze narrowed, his eyes following the glowing fissure trailing across one log. He turns and looks to the skylight above his bed, his eyes following a large crow as it swooped down from a neighbor's roof. Rounding the oak in the view of the skylight, it flittered to perch on one of the snow-dusted branches, only a short distance from a second, larger crow he hadn't noticed until now. He hugged himself tighter as they cawed at each other, the fathers around their necks bristling.

"There's one more thing you need to know," Grandmamma said.

Hiccup remained quiet, torn between wanting Grandmamma to continue and wishing the bombardment would cease.

"I already told you about the hamsa right?"

Outside, the smaller of the two birds took off, dive bombing the larger, who swooped out of the way just in time Then they flew off together, one chasing after the other, their squawking echoing through the neighborhood.

"The hamsa." Hiccup repeated. Lifting a hand to his collar. He brushed the silver metal of the charm, which had grown warm against his skin. "For protection right?"

"Yes, so don't take it off."

Hiccup's fingers left the charm. He walked away from the fire and plopped on the floor where Toothless came up and nuzzled his cheek.

"Well, there's a reason, why I gave it to you besides the holiday." Grandmamma said as she rifled through an outer pocket of her messenger bag. "I saw your mother last night."

Like striking a flint in the dark, this snapped everyone's attention to her, but she seemed unfazed.

"I saw her last night she told me to give it to you. She said, 'Make sure you protect my boy!'" she mimicked with an authoritative finger, like she was motioning to a child who did a wrong doing.

Hiccup almost wanted to crack a smile sine it did mimic something a mother would do to correct a misbehaving child.

"The whole time, the two of us were just wandering around this mazelike garden, all enclosed and made up of tunnels covered in roses."

Hiccup looked to her in curiosity, eyes narrowing.

"A rose garden," Grandmamma said, and removed a white sheet of a paper form her bag. "Sort of like a network of rooms and tunnels covered in roses, all of them red. That's the only way I know how to describe it."

Images of a dome shaped room surrounded by roses flashed through Hiccup's mind, even though he'd never heard of such a place. He could even picture a screen of falling petals, the velvety slips of red tumbling between him.

"At first, we were alone. But then I saw someone moving through the garden. When he passed by one of the archways, he stopped to look in our direction, like he was surprised to see us there. And then I woke up. But not before I realized who it was." Grandmamma stood.

_Hadrian_, Hiccup thought. Not only had Grandmamma dreamed about a strange new place, possibly Jolene's hideout, she'd seen Hadrian there too. That would explain why wasn't there at Hiccup's house, and Scrimshaw was instead.

"Hadrian?" Hiccup asked in a whisper.

Grandmamma nodded. "Yep. It was him."


	12. Chapter 12

That afternoon, Gobber had excused Hiccup for half of combat practice. The dragons had worked together to melt the snow that didn't land on the metal bars, casting the Academy in an ill-painted crisscross pattern. He sat on the sidelines, hugging his knees to his chest as he watched Gobber swing a flail in a demo. Hiccup still convinced Gobber think sit means demolish, instead of demonstration. Despite his desperate itching to get a hand on a weapon, Hiccup knew with his distracted mind, he wouldn't be able to stay engaged long enough.

So instead, he sat along the side, watching the others. But something kept nagging at him to do _something_. To help him think, and yet he couldn't fight. He couldn't risk it.

Hiccup pushes himself to his feet, trying to think. Suddenly he remembers, his brief, and failed attempt back at the Cove. Looking out across the arena, he had plenty of room along the sides where he was. Heather was watching observantly at the combat practice.

Hiccup took a deep breath and broke forward into a sprint. Hiccup lifted his arms. Bending forward, using his gained momentum, he launched into a dive cartwheel. The world blurred, and Hiccup closed his eyes as he clicked for the next move. He became weightless for a second. When his feet slammed the ground, he pushed off into a back handspring, then automatically swiveling into an Arabian dive roll, extending out his arms. He then held this position, breathing out through his mouth, trying not to focus on the upside down world, and pushed to a neck kip to stand. With his arms still raised, he looks to Heather whose taken notice.

Without thinking, Hiccup then rolls back into a straight arm back extensions roll, and holds into a handstand. Swinging his feet down, he feel the ground and raises to a standing position. These were simple, but he needed something faster to get his mind racing.

He looked ahead and sprinted again, this time, he pushed off his feet into a dive roll, and when his feet hit the ground he catapulted into a fly spring. The world blurred into a kaleidoscope of colors as he flipped once, twice, three times before ending the route with a back handspring, his feet landing firmly on the ground.

Wanting to try to complete the pass from before, Hiccup works up the courage and readies himself for the embarrassment that was bound to come.

He broke forward into a sprint. Hiccup lifted his arms. Bending forward, using his gained momentum, he launched in a round-off. Catapulting into a midair Arabian, knees tucked in, he became weightless. Then, bam, his feet met the bare ground. A millisecond later and he'd completed the second round-off, pulled through the hands-free whip, and finished the back handspring, air whistling in his ears.

His feet slammed the ground and he pushed off for the last time, hard as he could.

The air greeted him, holding him like a stray leaf in its nonexistent grasp as he twisted once, twice. Then, bam, his feet met the bare ground, ankles jarring from the impact on the hand, cushion-free surface. Gasps of astonishment filled the arena, and Hiccup looked to the young Vikings and Gobber as they stare at him with shocked faces, almost mimicking the way they stared at him when he drew a Zippleback back into its cage using an eel. Hiccup laughed. While the pass didn't help in organizing his thoughts, at least it took his mind off it.

"Where did you learn that?" Fishlegs asked.

Hiccup felt his cheeks warm as he scratched his head. "Uh, I've just been practicing."

"Where? How?" Snotlout hammers, obvious jealousy on his face.

"I just, needed something to help me think." Hiccup said.

"Well Hiccup since you seem, rather itchy, would you be up for a little sword fighting?" Gobber asks, a sly smile.

Hiccup returns the smile as Gobber tosses him a Gronckle iron sword. Hiccup, at the last minute, grabs his ornate shield and slings it over his back. He then readied his sword, raising the blade toward Gobber as he struck his own fight stance. Everyone else cleared the arena floor, and Fishlegs stood in the middle of Hiccup and Gobber.

"Begin!" Fishlegs shouted.

Hiccup lunged at Gobber and knocked his sword aside with his own.

Gobber's arm followed the movement of the blade, letting Hiccup know he'd allowed him to make the connection. Hiccup didn't doubt it.

Backing away from Hiccup, crossing one leg behind the other, Gobber let Hiccup swipe at him again, then easily deflected his advance. Hiccup lunged again and again, and each time, Gobber sent his blade aside with his own.

The fuse of fury Gobber had lit within Hiccup grew shorter and shorter with each or his rebounded attacks. He was making fun of Hiccup. He was doing this on purpose to mock him, trying to make him feel weak and stupid.

Well, he wasn't. He had made it this far, hadn't he?

Hiccup continued his onslaught, but Gobber repelled his blows one after the other, and their swords continued to clank and clack as they wound their way around the arena.

Gobber had yet to attack Hiccup in return, but Hiccup knew better than to think it wasn't coming.

Already losing his breath, Hiccup paused and scampered out of the weapon's reach.

Over his shoulder, he caught sight of Snotlout snickering next to Fishlegs who watched with intent eyes. When Hiccup's eyes returned to Gobber, though, it was too late to sidestep or use his sword to divert the swing of Gobber's own cutlass, the tip of which caught Hiccup's left shoulder, splitting the skin there in a deep gash.

Hiccup hissed, the searing pain of the wound too sharp to elicit a scream.

He raised his free hand to the gash, his fingers coming away scarlet with his blood.

"Hiccup!" He heard Heather cry.

Hiccup looked to Gobber, stunned, but he only flicked his eyebrows, and Hiccup figured this had to be another one of his tough 'Learning on the Job' lessons.

"Your distractions cost you," Gobber said.

Hiccup gritted his teeth and, charging forward, swiped at Gobber again. He skittered back, arms spread wide as he narrowly avoided Hiccup's strike, which slashed across his midsection, slicing a horizontal slit in his tunic.

They paused to look at each other, their eyes meeting in mirrored expressions of shock.

"Again." Gobber said, and moved on Hiccup slashing this way and that, slinging blow after blow, forcing Hiccup back from him and toward the front entrance.

Hiccup met each of his strokes with a block and a parry, his body moving before he could tell it when or where.

Sword fighting. He was actually _sword fighting_.

The unexplained ability, now seemingly inherent, reminded Hiccup of how he had tried to do the pass back at the Cove. _Could this be another dream?_ He landed the pass, and now he was sword fighting against Gobber, and he was doing it well. Hiccup had always thought it was something Hadrian had possessed, and that the skill was lost once they had separated.

But now it was back, and entirely his own.

Hiccup raised his sword and rushed Gobber, the heat of his own blood searing his free arm as it ran down to his wrist, where he could feel it soaking into his palm. Gobber blocked him, but Hiccup whirled, slashing low and quick to nick Gobber's leg, tearing at the fabric of his pants just over the knee.

Blood pooled under the garments, but it wasn't as deep as Hiccup's. He didn't intend for it to be. What was more rewarding was the look of surprise and momentary confusion that came over his stoic face. For once Hiccup had actually cracked his fortitude and had elicited a response. Flashing a dark smile, Hiccup went after him again. Once more, their swords traded back and forth, clanking loudly, and this time, _Hiccup_ was the one forcing _Gobber_ back, driving him through the center of the arena.

Snotlout had long stopped his snickering, and Astrid, Fishlegs and Heather stared at him in astonishment.

They spared back and forth, and when Gobber tried to go for a slice at Hiccup's calf, Hiccup skipped out of the way, then whipping his blade over Gobber's, pinned the tip with his foot, slapping Gobber's sword to the floor. Gobber tried to writhe it free, and then suddenly he head-butted Hiccup, sending Hiccup stumbling back, losing the grip on his hilt. As Hiccup refocused his vision, he caught Gobber in time launching for a slaughter. Hiccup quickly reached back and brought forth his ornate shield. He heard the metal clang and he immediately pushed off, whipping the shield around his head to whack Gobber in the jaw.

As Gobber sprawled across the concrete, Hiccup didn't waste time to rush over him, placing his foot at Gobber's throat. As Gobber blinked his eyes open, he came face-to-face with Hiccup pointing an arrow at his nose, his shield converged into a crossbow.

Gobber finally breathes a sigh of pleasure, and says. "Well done Hiccup."

Hiccup, breathless, smiles at Gobber before retracting his arrow.

The kids on the side applaud in amazement. Hiccup converged the shield back to normal and slung it over his shoulder. "Hiccup that was amazing!" Astrid says.

"I never knew you could fight like that." Fishlegs said as he approached.

"Thanks." Hiccup said, his cheeks s alight shade of pink, thankfully he blamed it on the cold and the exercise.

As Gobber ended the session with some last-minute advice, Hiccup's gaze trailed along the snow coated bars of the dome Academy. He stopped when he saw something unusual. A black shadow move don one of the bars, and Hiccup registered the silhouette of one huge black bird. It made no sound, though it seemed to watch him from its perch. Hiccup did a double take back to the huddle of people, and once he saw their attention was diverted, Hiccup crept his way closer to the bird. It finally broke its silence with a caw, the sound falling harsh on Hiccup's ears, rasping and raw Hiccup was spooked, but he didn't turn away, he gazed at it, and when it cocked its head to the side, Hiccup swallowed.

Its eyes were a concentration of pale jade.

It cawed again and then flew off the bars and in the direction that led to the woods. A surge of panic sparking in Hiccup's chest, he turned and still found everyone oblivious.

"Uh, Gobber," Hiccup interrupted. "I . . . uh, I need to go. So I'll catch up with you guys later."

Before Hiccup waited for a response, he spun on his heels and ran out of the Academy. His breath puffs in mist clouds. Toothless nudges his arm, and Hiccup automatically hops aboard the two take off and follow the black bird to the woods. It hovered above the tree line the suddenly dove downward. Hiccup and Toothless pause, then Hiccup sees the shadow zip through the trees and the two dive and hover a few feet off the ground as they glide through the trees.

Hiccup knew they were going deeper in, but if the bird was who he thought it was, he understood why. Hiccup had dressed in layers, but the stinging air still managed to singe his lungs each time he took a breath. The fur-lined hood he wore, pulled over his ears, protected his head from the cold, though his cheeks burned from the sharp wind that had pressed against him the whole way, almost like an invisible force trying to hold him back.

Hiccup clutched the handles on the saddle as he drew nearer to the solemn gathering of trees. Even though he had not planned to, as soon as an old fountain came into view, Hiccup swung one leg over and pressed a toe to the pavement, stopping Toothless.

The bird had led them to an abandoned neighborhood. Towering homes stood on either side, facing one another like dance partners preparing to waltz. This was just like the dream Hiccup had, where he found the mist, Jolene. The houses themselves were incredible, each practically a castle in its own right, their facades done up in decorative brickwork and tiling, their fronts accented with small porches, porticos, and verandahs, the perimeters of which were set by carved pillars. Some of the homes had balconies, while other had rounded turrets with pointed rooftops. As they passed one grey-toned fortress of a home built completely of stone, Hiccup thought he could make out tiny faces set into the façade, their mouths open in an O shape, their eyebrows angled down in fearsome scowls.

Hiccup focused on one of the stone faces, which struck him as being different from the rest. While this one shared the stern and foreboding expression of his comrades, his eyes, large and almond-shaped, seemed to convey more of a silent dare than award-away glower. And where the other faces had leafy beards, gaping mouths, and distorted features, this face bore a smooth and almost human look.

A heavy wind rushed by, causing then leafy heads of enormous, ancient looking trees to swish back and forth. The sun poked through the clouds, lighting the very center of the court where a huge fountain stood. No water poured from the enormous green basin, and the elevated base was surrounded by graceful swans and solemn-faced shrubs.

At the very top of the fountain, a statue of a voluptuous nude woman looked down on them as they passed. She held a swath of fabric that clung to the lower half of her body and appeared to billow out behind her in a suspended arc.

He stared up at the house. It had three levels, the topmost of which he thought might be an attic. The roof met in the peak there, with a little subroof sticking out from underneath the first framing a rectangular, three-paneled window crosshatched by white Xs.

A small concrete porch led up to the front door, shaded by a simple verandah, which was itself supported by a row of painted white pillars. The front door, done in an opaque gold stained-glass design, shimmered a satiny dim yellow in the late afternoon sunlight.

Hiccup and Toothless walked to the curb that surrounded the fountain and, gently he patted Toothless, then strode across the brief strip of grass all the way up to the ornate grill work railing that separated the dry concrete reservoir from the frozen turf. Wrapping his already numb hands around the painted metal, Hiccup peered up at the fountain. The leaf-and-scroll-flourished underside of the shallow and empty, goblet-shaped basin.

Hiccup glanced to his left and then to his right.

His grip on the railing tightened, and with a winking sensation, as though he were standing in quicksand and not on solid ground, he began to wonder why he'd come. What had he been hoping for? That he would appear before him.

Maybe, he thought, he'd been holding on to the distant hope that he would be able to find his dreamworld counterpart.

There was nothing though.

Instead the entire street felt hollow, drained of the timeless beauty it had possessed centuries ago.

Hiccup looked back at the fountain.

Curly-haired cherubs frolicked beneath the basin in a captured moment of abandon. Though the figures might have seemed playful in the daylight, something about the mix of shadows and stark light cast on their small faces through the trees made them appear more mischievous than free-spirited, more impish than gleeful.

The large swans that reveled with them, rearing back with wings outspread, looked somehow frantic.

Blocked by the wide bowl of the basin, the light could not reach the sultry figure of the nude woman who stood at the very top of the fountain, her veil billowing out behind her. She remained swathed in shadow, a silhouette that belonged to the night.

His gaze locked on the woman's face, featureless in the dark. Behind he could see the faces in stone.

"They're called 'greenmen,'"

Hiccup halted. Toothless snarled. That voice . . .

"They're a type of goblin or gargoyle. Protectors."

Slowly he turned his head, glancing toward the fountain. Hiccup abandoned Toothless and made his way around its circumference in quick strides, stopping when he found him.

He sat with his back pressed to the fountain's base, just below one of the unfurling swans. To his right, one of the bronze cherubs seemed to lean toward him with cautious interest.

The buckles of his tight straightjacket-style coat were open, exposing a portion of his alabaster chest. Right where his heart should have been, Hiccup saw an open crater the size of a softball.

Next to him sat a pile of what at first glance looked like a collection of small rocks. That was when Hiccup realized they weren't rocks at all but shards, broken bits of what he could only assume was as porcelain.

Hiccup did his best to keep his face free of expression as he lifted one of the shards between the claws of his finger and thumb. He held the shard up to the light and studied it like a jeweler would a diamond. He held it against his chest, like he was trying to determine where a puzzle piece might best fit. Then carefully fitting the sliver into the gaping black cavity, Hiccup heard the piece attract with a quiet _tink_.

With horror, Hiccup realized what he was doing.

He was piecing himself together. Was that even possible?

"They're supposed to ward away evil." Hadrian said, selecting yet another shard without glancing up from his task.

Though it was a gruesome thing to witness Hadrian piecing together the gaping black hole in his chest, Hiccup couldn't seem to bring himself to look away. He also couldn't help but wonder how he'd acquired the damage, but he knew better than to ask.

"If that's true how are you here?" Hiccup, joked. The sides of his mouth twitched, trying to smile, but Hadrian's blank face made him regret it. Hadrian just fixed another chalk-white piece into the shrinking crater in his chest.

"Happy Snoggletog." Hadrian said, the words blank and hollow as himself.

Toothless walked up to the railing and cooed.

"So . . . , why did you bring me here?" Hiccup asked, doubting the demon would give him a straight answer.

"I figured since I as allowed into _your_ home," he said, glancing up for the first time, his jade-green eyes locking with Hiccup's. "I'd invite you to mine."

Hiccup's jaw tightened. He pinched his lips together, not allowing himself to speak until he could trust himself not to say something that might provoke him.

"You mean, _this_ is your home?" Hiccup asked, curiosity tingling his spine.

Hadrian picked up another shard, and held it in front of him toward Hiccup. Blocking out one eye, he smiled a jagged grin. "A _piece _of it."

Hiccup's mouth twisted with unease and frustration. When it came to dealing with Hadrian, he'd learned that whenever possible, no reaction was the best reaction.

"Answer as best as you can for me," Hiccup suddenly blurted. "Did you aid Jolene in invading my thoughts?"

Hadrian remained silent, rooting through the remaining shards with one claw.

Hiccup swallowed. "Hadrian. Answer me." He demanded.

"The ungodly beauty," Hadrian said. "The hidden one you'll soon leave in search of. She invited herself in, you know. She has the power to take what she wants. And go where she pleases. Power she should not possess."

Hiccup felt his scalp prickle and the hair on his arms and the back of his neck stand at attention. But it wasn't the chill in the air that was making his skin crawl.

His thoughts jumbled in his head like a scribbling charcoal pen as he tried to comprehend how Hadrian knew about his plan to go and confront Jolene. Then, all at once, it dawned on him.

"The birds," Hiccup said. "This morning. You were spying."

"On the contrary, Hiccup" he said, his tone infuriatingly calm as he fit one final fragment into position, wincing as it snapped into place. "I was merely waiting for you to notice me. After all, you called to me."

Hiccup felt his cheeks warm as he flashed back to the night when he practically begged Hadrian to help him. Hiccup mentally slapped himself in the face for looking so pathetic. No doubt it gave the demon a laugh.

Grabbing one of the loose straps on his coat, Hadrian threaded it through the corresponding buckle with practiced ease and pulled, cinching the thin black material back over his chest. He did so again with the topmost buckle, once more concealing the spiderweb patch of hairline cracks. Then he stood, unfurling himself limb by spindly limb from the base of the fountain.

Hiccup stumbled backward, away from the railing, nearly tripping over his feet.

He hated feeling this defenseless against him. It was true Hiccup could wound him if he got lucky. And he had Toothless, who was unusually calm around Hadrian. But what could Hiccup possibly to do him, when clearly they both knew he was the one with all the answers?

"You didn't answer my question." Hiccup stuttered. "Did I invite Jolene, or did you help her?"

Hiccup watched Hadrian as he stepped toward him slowly, gracefully, and it occurred to him that he was moving that way on purpose, as though making a conscious effort not to alarm him. The hilarity of that thought might have caused Hiccup to laugh if he hadn't been so close to tears.

Hadrian stopped at the railing. "We all had a hand in things, Hiccup." Hadrian said. "She picks her prey carefully."

Suddenly approaching the railing with flared determination, Hiccup measured up to Hadrian. Up this close, he was about Dagur's height.

"Please," Hiccup said pleading. "I want a direct answer. I don't want this to be my fault. I never meant to start any of this."

Hiccup wanted to turn and run as suddenly as he approached when he felt a tear stream down his face. But he looked at Hadrian directly, wanting so badly to have that answer. Hiccup barely had time to react when he felt Hadrian's hand grasp the back of his head. The next thing Hiccup knew, his left cheek was on the shoulder of the demon and the hollow feel of his hand cradled his head. Heartbeat hammering, Hiccup felt his cheeks flush red.

This was, beyond strange.

"No." Hadrian breathed.

For the first time since he'd met Hadrian, Hiccup found himself fearing that any second he would evaporate and be gone. Hiccup didn't pull away, and what bewildered him the most was how the cold of Hadrian's porcelain skin actually sent a trail of warmth through him.

What is happening?

Suddenly, Hadrian pushed Hiccup off and stepped back. The motion briefly scared Hiccup into thinking he was going to disappear. Hiccup opened his mouth to say something, but was cut short when Hadrian extended his arm out to Hiccup, his hand opening like a bear trap.

"Come," he said, "there's something you need to see."

Hiccup took a few steps back, shaking his head. "I don't know Hadrian."

Hadrian didn't lower his hand. He didn't come any closer, either, but stayed behind the railing as if to say, _This is as far as I go_. Hiccup looked to Toothless who only cooed. He was completely calm, and this was beyond the explanation that Hadrian was simply another part of Hiccup. It was as if Toothless, accepted him.

"No tricks this time." he said. "No false realities. Just a memory caught in passing. Something that might interest you. You said yourself that I can't hurt you."

Hiccup's eyes darted from the serrated edge of the hole in his cheek, to the needle-point tips of those claws. Despite his macabre exterior, everything about him in that moment, from the unusual comfort, to the planted way he stood to his grave, ascetic expression, resonated through Hiccup like an echo.

"You're . . . different," Hiccup said, the urge to turn and run dissipating like the white fog of his own breath. "Why? What happened to you?"

"Change of heart?" he said through a thin smile that was as bitter as it was brittle.

Though his body screamed against doing so, Hiccup took a tentative step toward him. He told himself it was a test step, just to see how he would react.

His smile faded his expression becoming suddenly sober and serious- more human than Hiccup had ever seen it. Almost . . . recognizable.

Hiccup turned to Toothless. "Toothless, keep watch. And stay safe." Toothless cooed and took a step toward him. "No, no, no. You need to stay here. I'll come back."

Hadrian's claws clicked together as he beckoned. Hiccup too another cautious step toward him then another. Hiccup cleared the distance between them, finally fitting his hand into Hadrian's porcelain grip.

Hadrian's hand closed tightly around Hiccup's, the claws of his fingers and thumb crisscrossing one anther like some kind of wicked locking mechanism.

He squeezed hard, and Hiccup opened his mouth in a silent gasp of pain.

Just when he thought he'd made a terrible mistake, his hand yielded and Hadrian's fingers passed through his, as if Hiccup had suddenly become as intangible as a mirage. Almost as if preparing to waltz, Hadrian stepped backward, drawing Hiccup forward. But his body remained paralyzed, rooted in place while some separate part of him began to slide forward, drawn by his pull.

It felt as if he were being peeled away from himself.

And that, it seemed, was exactly what was happening.

Hiccup's vision went double while the open-air sounds of the evening, wind, and rustling leaves became muted in his ears. Then, in a flash, everything disappeared, winking to crystal white. He floated in a world of nothing, weightless, alone, and strangely unconcerned about what had just happened or where he was or if he would come back. It was like teetering between waking and falling asleep, and it made him wonder if this was what dying felt like.

Something pulled at him, and his senses returned.

Looking down at his side, he saw his hand still clutched in Hadrian's grip.

Disoriented, Hiccup glanced up to find himself no longer standing in front of the fountain. Gove were the houses and the trees. In their place stretched a long and dark corridor, lined on either side by plain utilitarian doors all of them were closed.

Hiccup looked up at Hadrian, who pressed a single charcoal black claw to his lips, calling for silence. Then he loosened into smoke and, with a rustle and flit of feathers, reformed as an ebony bird, perching on Hiccup's left shoulder.

The weight of the bird's body felt almost nonexistent, as if even in this form, the Doppelganger was still only hollow within. Aiming his beak forward, he gave a hoarse and urging croak.

Hiccup faced the dimly lit hall, which seemed to stretched on forever into far-reaching pit of blackness. He wondered where Hadrian had brought him and why, but the bird only bobbed his head and snapped his beak with several impatient clicks. Clearly he wanted Hiccup to proceed.

Hiccup did so with cautious steps, his footfall making no sound on the worn floorboards. Between each of the doors, antique oil lamps burned with steady yellow flames, their glass holders warping the light into square shapes along the barren walls. The scent of kerosene and the antiseptic smell of iodine mixed with alcohol permeated the air. Beneath that, though, Hiccup could detect another order, a hint of putridity like the stale reek of a sickroom.

A quiet squeaking drew Hiccup's attention to the right, and soon saw someone gliding toward them – a woman dressed in white. Hiccup stopped cold. Fear pierced his gut like a spear, holding him in place. But as the woman drew closer, however, her figure became more discernible, and Hiccup aw that instead of white veils, she wore what appeared to be an old fashioned nurse's uniform. With a starched white cap sitting atop her pouf of dark brown hair, a matching apron cinched her narrow, corseted waist while long, heavy skirts wished around her feet.

The woman, her gaze intent on the path before her, took no notice of Hiccup as she bustled by, even as her skirts nearly brushed Hiccup's legs. Behind the woman, a teenage girl, dressed in the same uniform wheeled a gurney, the source of the high-pitched squeaking. On it, an old man with skin like raw dough lay prone and listless.

Hiccup turned his head to watch their grim procession as they passed.

_A hospital_, Hiccup thought. He was in some sort of old hospital. But why would Hadrian have brought him to such a place?

He'd called this a memory, and clearly hiccup was viewing something from the past, but when? With the lamps and the way the nurses were dressed, Hiccup could only guess that it was far before he was born. But if they'd gone _this_ far, then whose memory could this possibly be? Certainly not even his father's.

A low wailing drew Hiccup's attention forward once again.

There, at the very end of the passageway, a door that he knew had not been there a moment before swung open by itself.

Hadrian cawed softly in Hiccup's ear and, with a loud flutter and flick of feathers, took flight from Hiccup's shoulder he watched the bird soar ahead of him, flapping his wings, then shooting straight through the open door and out of sight.

Hiccup hurried down that corridor after him, preferring to have the company of a monster than to be left alone in this place. As he drew closer to the door, the wailing emanating from within grew louder and more distinct. The sound began to build toward shouting, and soon – screaming.

"RYAN!"

The cry, ragged and frayed, caused Hiccup to stop in his tracks. Standing frozen in place within the frame of the door, he took in the scene before him.

In the center of the room sat a narrow bed. A blonde-haired man lay on the white sheets, his face gaunt and sickly pale. He writhed amid the tangled linens, howling and moaning while, above him, a thick smear of rippling black clouds spread wider against the ceiling.

"RYAN!" the man on the bed shrieked.

Beside him, a young doctor dressed in a black tunic, the collar of it rumpled and sweat-stained, stooped over his patient,

"Haymitch" the doctor said as he wrung the struggling man's pallid hand, oblivious to the otherworldly storm that churned above them. "Haymitch, you are safe!"

_Haymitch_ . . . the second. Hiccup thought with dull shock. This man twisting in agony before him . . . it was Haymitch the Second.

Hiccup's eyes grew wide as they swept upward, toward the fog roiling directly over the man's head. Sharp faces and snatching claws swam through the haze, surfacing to snap at their tormented victim like frenzied sharks.

Terrified, Haymitch whipped his head from side to side on his pillow as though the rest of him were bound by unseen fetters. His chest rose and fell in quick breathes. He moaned and ground his teeth, the veins on his broad forehead bulging, standing out like blue cords

That was when Hiccup saw it – the thin silver string that stretched between the vapors whirling above the bed and the center of Haymitch's heaving chest. The quivering strand seemed to be made of a luminous and ethereal light, as wispy as gossamer.

Haymitch the Second arched against the bed, shouting, while streams of shadows began to pour out of the tempest. Swirling tendrils of black smoke invaded the room, shooting out in every direction. The streams floated through the air like coils of ink in water and glided across the floor, skimming the walls before forming into the wraithlike figures of demons.

But these were not the demons _he_ knew.

Though they had hollow, shell-like bodies, they did not possess the black tint to their quill-coarse hair and claws like Hadrian. Instead, their claws were a deep blue, their hair and teeth indigo.

Then Hiccup realized that he did recognize one of them. It was the demon from the night Hiccup needed to speak to Hadrian, that same creature who had sung that terrible lullaby. Here he appeared complete. Intricate carvings lined the salt-white skin of his naked chest. Etchings of ships tossing amid the tumultuous waters sailed across his porcelain torso, while the detailed image of a diamond-scaled sea serpent wound its way down the length of one arm.

_Scrimshaw_, Hiccup thought, remembering his name in a flash.

The demon moved to hover over Haymitch. Leaning down, he grabbed for Haymitch's other hand, his claws digging into his wrist, threatening to puncture the skin. The creature grinned. Mocking the doctor, he began to whisper in Haymitch's ear.

"You made the mistake of trying to outsmart yourself again, didn't you?" he hissed. "Now look where it's got us." He pointed a claw toward the ceiling. "Trapped. Right in the eye of the storm."

"_Haymitch,"_ spoke a voice from within the fog.

The first sign of white came in the form of veils, the gauzy, silken material fluttering amid the eddying maelstrom.

Dropping Haymitch's hand and shrinking back, Scrimshaw dissolved into wisps with the clipped cry of _"Teka-lili!"_

The other demons followed suit with the same strange outburst. They shot away in different directions, slithering into the walls and between the floorboards like snakes. Haymitch's screaming intensified when Lilith's face surfaced through the murk.

The clouds of darkness rolled back from her flawless features. Her white arms, encircled in twining veils, stretched out form the abyss.

Her hands fastened around the silver cord as though grabbing hold of a rope, and she began to use the swaying ethereal strand too pull herself from the vapors.

"_Haymitch,"_ she whispered again, her dark hair flying back into the tumult that raged behind her. _"You are bound to me. You must return."_

"RYAN!" Haymitch screamed again.

The utter despair in his voice shook Hiccup from his shock-induced trance. He looked around, searching for something – anything he could do to stop the torment.

He spotted Hadrian, still in bird form, perched in the sill of the rain-spattered window. With a flap of his wings, he took flight, soaring across the room, circling to light on Hiccup's shoulder. His movements from one corner of the room to the other, unnoticed by Haymitch, Lilith, or the doctor, reminded Hiccup that there was nothing he could do. Nothing at all. Because the events unfolding before him had already transpired.

Hiccup felt his knees grow weaker with every inch Lilith managed to draw herself from the chasm. He could feel Hadrian switching restlessly from foot to foot, rankled as well by Lilith's presence, even if her visage was only a shadow from the past. Hiccup knew he wanted to leave and hide just as the other demons had done. But he remained with Hiccup. And in spite of everything he had ever done to him, Hiccup was grateful.

Haymitch, his teeth gritted, turned his head away from the demon clawing her way toward him. He clamped his eyes shut to block it out, his face transforming into a tight knot of resigned anguish.

_Ryan_, Hiccup thought. Haymitch had been calling for a Ryan. Where was he? Why wouldn't he come? Why hadn't he stopped this?

"There is nothing here that can harm you," Hiccup heard the doctor insist. "Haymitch, listen to me! It's over. Do you hear me? Whatever has happened, it is over!"

For one instant, the world turned black. Hiccup blinked, trying to regain his vision. He felt Hadrian's talons clamp his shoulder more tightly. Then the blackness lifted and that was when he realized someone else had entered the room, walking _through_ him.

A tall, cloaked figure now stood before him.

His eyes traveled up his broad back, stopping at the metal horned helmet atop his head. He saw a studded armored pads adorning both shoulders, and a brown tunic with a thick ceremonial belt braced across his stomach.

No doubt it was Ryan.

What Hiccup found the most curious was the resemblance of Haymitch and Ryan. Similar clothes, hair, facial features. The only difference was that Ryan had dirty blonde hair. Like he had smothered it in dry mud or sand.

Then Hiccup suddenly stiffened as he felt Hadrian ruffle his feathers.

This was Haymitch's _Doppelganger_. But how? It was beyond strange and astonishing to see two generations of hiccups both having doppelgangers.

Lilith's attention broke from Haymitch, and she blinked in surprised as Ryan drew forth one of his twin cutlasses. Her lips peeled back from sharpened teeth in a snarl. "Stop, you fool!" she hissed. "You'll kill him!"

Haymitch grew suddenly still on the bed. Hiccup watched as he rolled his head to face the doctor, uttering something indiscernible while Ryan coiled his arm, preparing to strike.

"No!" Hiccup shouted his cry rising in exact unison with Lilith's.

In the next instant, Ryan slashed his sword forward in one clean swipe, severing the silver cord that stretched between Haymitch's body and Lilith's clutching hands.

The demoness howled as the cord snapped in two. Her face contorted with fury as the silver light vanished from her grip. She flew up, sucked into the ceiling, while the fog transformed into a whirlpool. Then, in a rush, the miasma dissipated, swept into the rugged wood until no trace of its presence remained.

Hiccup gaped, watching as Ryan stepped aside and sheathed his sword.

Hiccup's gaze fell to Haymitch, who now lay lifeless, his eyes glazed and unseeing.

"Haymitch," the doctor called.

The figure on the bed made no response.

Ryan turned, and as he began to stride toward Hiccup, a wave of hatred washed over him. with a scream of rage, he threw himself at him, fists swinging.

Hadrian fluttered up and away from Hiccup, feathers flying his rasping squawks filling the silent room. Hiccup's fists passed through Ryan's ever-calm visage. He walked through Hiccup without so much as a ripple, and Hiccup's efforts sent him stumbling forward.

He stopped and, looking up, froze to find himself standing at the foot of Haymitch's bed. He watched as the doctor reached out a trembling hand to close the two sightless eyes, which seemed to have been fixed directly on Hiccup. As he did, the surrounding walls, floor, and ceiling feel away like laying cards, throwing Hiccup into a bottomless vat of darkness.

He fell backward through the dark, and as he did, a glimmer stole his attention. A silver cord glowed in the expansive nothingness, terminating in the center of his body. It wavered like a ribbon caught in the wind as he flew back and back, falling faster and faster.

Then, suddenly, the cord snapped taut. It began to pull him forward, like a kite being reeled from the night sky. Light broke through his consciousness, and from a place high above, Hiccup saw himself – his body – standing in front of the fountain on the street his arm still extended as though to take Hadrian's hand, even though he was gone.

Toothless laid curled up at his side, eyes shut in peaceful sleep. Hiccup watched as his ears twitched and his eyes blinked open. He head slowly drew up and he searched around.

A jab of urgency sent Hiccup rushing toward himself. The world whirred into a blur as his two selves snapped into one.

Hiccup blinked dry and stinging eyes. He dropped his arm, his bicep screaming as if he'd been standing that way for hours. Toothless immediately got up and nuzzled Hiccup's hand. Hiccup blankly looked down and then around. As his senses reactivated, he looked into the trees for a black bird.

He found no one.


	13. Chapter 13

For Snoggletog, the village had built a giant wooden tree at the center of town. Being the chief of the village, Stoick and Hiccup went to the Square to hand lights around it, while also trying not to knock down the shields that adorned its base.

The giant towering thing was basic old wood painted green, then it was strung up with old shields from everyone in the village along with wreaths and ornaments. The dragons helped in making it easier. By the time Hiccup had gotten back to the village, dusk had fallen upon the village, and the lights along the tree were starting to give off a soft muted glow. Like the eggs of a Changewing, they grew brighter, then dimmed again as people walking by casted shadows that deprived the lights for brief snippets of seconds.

Still stuck in a daze as he pieced together what he had seen in the memory, Hiccup stared blankly at the giant monument as other villagers passed him by.

By all means it didn't surprise him that Hadrian had disappeared moments after the memory ended then again, Hiccup did scare him off when he launched for, Ryan. As if things weren't already confusing enough, now Hadrian had gone on and added more to the pile. It started to discourage Hiccup if he really was trying to help him, or make things more confusing until Hiccup just snapped.

Haymitch the Second was a hiccup; that he had already known, but how exactly did if fit into Hiccup's situation? Lilith tormenting him and then there's Ryan, his unofficial Doppelganger. Had this already happened before?

And on top of that, Hadrian said it wasn't Hiccup's fault that he invited Lilith in, but according the Grandmamma's book, it _was_ his fault. Hiccup sighed in irritation, his breath puffing out in a translucent cloud. If Hadrian was trying to irritate him, he had succeeded.

A sudden pat on the shoulder startles Hiccup.

"Whoa, easy Hiccup." Astrid said. Over her shoulder, Heather stood wearing a fleece, her hands hidden in the pocket.

"Oh, hey, girls." Hiccup says as he rubs his head. "How're things?"

"We were actually looking for you. We went to your house but no one was home." Heather says.

"Oh yeah. It's the holiday. So, are you two going to the feast?" Hiccup asks

"We were planning, but we thought we'd come and hand out with you." She leans in close. "Just in case Jolene comes along." Astrid whispers.

Her name alone sent a nausea feeling through Hiccup's stomach. He stepped back fearing he would actually convulse. It reminded Hiccup that he hadn't actually told them what Grandmamma had showed him that Snoggletog morning. There was so much piling on his shoulders that Hiccup actually started to fell himself being weighed down. So much information was crammed in his head, maybe if he had told someone it would help him organize everything. No doubt Stoick and Grandmamma would be on board with it, anything to help Hiccup.

As Hiccup was about to suggest they all meet at his house, Fishlegs' voice calls out from behind, "Hiccup!"

Hiccup turns and finds Fishlegs and Meatlug hovering around the tree and landing with a soft thud.

"Hey Fishlegs. What's up?" Hiccup asks. Astrid and Heather round their way to view the pudgy Viking.

"It's Jolene's house." Hiccup's throat constricts tight as an icepick of fear stabs his heart. Fishlegs continues. "It's completely black."

"What else is new?" Astrid interjects. "Her house is always dark. Especially at night."

"No I mean, it's black as in empty. Like no one's home." Fishlegs rephrases. "It's abandoned."

"Did she say anything about leaving?" Hiccup asks, curiosity and a small pinch of hurt poking at his chest.

"No, and we peeked through one of the skylights, and the house is completely empty." Fishlegs says.

"What?!" Snotlout suddenly shouts. "My Jolene's gone?! What Where did she go?!"

Astrid clamps her hands around his mouth to stop him from sending the male villagers in a frenzy.

Baffled, Hiccup makes his way to the blacksmith shop where he found his father and Gobber sharing a toast of yak milk and Yak Butter Barffet. Stoick's eyes flick to Hiccup as they laugh. "Oh Hiccup! There you are." His father says. "Glad you're here, we were just about to round up the villagers to the Great Hall."

"Hey Dad," Hiccup says, ignoring his comment. "Did Jolene say anything about moving?"

In an instant, Stoick and Gobber's faces went from jolly to seriousness.

"No, I don't recall." Stoick answers.

"Well, apparently her house is completely abandoned."

Stoick leads the kids to the house at the very back of the village. It was just like any other around, in fact it was one of the newly renovated ones after the old neighborhood was slated for demolition. Walking up to the house, the wood stairs creaked in distress as they reached the door, almost beckoning them to turn around.

Hiccup saw nothing hung on the door, not even a wreath for the holiday. The house was bare, naked without any lights or wreaths on the roof and streamed along the wooden posts at the front door. Hiccup pulled open the door.

The house had an abandoned quality to it. A dim grey casted over everything, so it looks as though whatever was left in the hose as frowning at their depressive scenery or their abandonment. The open family room consisted of a bare table with one chair pushed in.

"Yeesh, when a girl's got to go, she goes." Heather tries to amuse as everyone files into the house.

Hiccup ignores her comment as he strode toward the stairs. An enclosed stairway stretched up before him. Above, the bedroom appeared to be intact. Solid walls met with the wood-and-rafter ceiling, and cold light poured in from the window above the staircase, dust particles drifting through the sharply slanted shafts like flotsam.

He mounted the stairs, and as he moved through the patchwork of light and dimness, he thought he could smell the bitter scent of seared wood. Hiccup opened his arms and placed his hands to the wood paneling on either side of him. His fingers trailed the course surface, bumping over the grooves a he used the walls to guide himself up, every step taking its turn to groan beneath him.

When Hiccup reached the top landing, he had found the room that mimicked an attic. A small café-style table and matching chairs sat beneath the small square window overlooking the village below. The room was completely empty.

His attention fell on the odd black scorch mark that marred the very center of the floorboards, taking the place of a ragged orange-brown throw rug, which lay rolled up against the far wall.

The fear that had gripped him, started growing twofold as he stared at the burn mark. Hiccup drifted toward the spot, keeping her footsteps light as he made his way to the stand in the center of the starburst-shaped blot. Only when his feet matched up with two similarly shaped smudges branded into the wood did he realize where it was he stood.

He had seen this before. When he was practicing with Grandmamma, but it's like it was made for something dark. A dark version of it.

Glancing to the ceiling, Hiccup saw a faint charcoal-black circle outline directly above. A faint etching, looking as if it was trying to fade into the wood before being spotted. Looking back around the room, Hiccup found something gleaming under the window. It was a small booklet, left facedown, flopped open. The entire thing was purple with a gold borderline and a strange symbol traced in the center.

Hiccup walked over, picking the book up, it clamped shut and he traced his thumb all around the cover and down the spine. It seemed like a portable spellbook.

The call of his name draws Hiccup's attention downstairs. He trudges down to find everyone gathered in the family room.

"What have you got there son?" Stoick asked Hiccup came into the room.

"I found this upstairs. It looks like a small, spellbook." Hiccup said as he handed Stoick the book. "Not only that, but Jolene's entire upstairs bedroom has a weird scorch mark in the floor."

"What?" Astrid said raising a questioning eyebrow.

"Yeah come here." Hiccup motioned. He headed back up the stairs, hands over feet, but the toe of his show caught on the lip of one of the steps. The stair pulled loose with a clatter.

Hiccup fell forward, the edges of the stairs jutting into his ribs and banging his shins. Wincing, he bit back a cry and twisted to look behind him, at the plank he had inadvertently yanked free. Ignoring Snotlout's snickering laughter, Hiccup peered down. Beneath the plank lay a long black hole, a hollow space like a small, narrow grave, large and deep enough for a person to fit through sideways.

"Hiccup are you okay?" Heather asks as she walks toward the stairs.

"Yeah, yeah." Hiccup waved off. "Check this out."

Without waiting for others to gather around, Hiccup sprang for the hole and dropped inside, landing on his feet. The top of his head still poked above the open stair. He could hear the awes of the others as he squats down in the tight space.

Balancing on the balls of his feet, he tried not to think about the cobwebs he couldn't see or the pill bugs or brown recluse spiders that might be crawling over his shoes at that very moment. Dust and grit shook down around him, pieces of grime landing in his hair.

"Hey! Steady up there!" Hiccup called.

"Sorry Hiccup!" Fishlegs' voice returned.

Listening, Hiccup heard him shuffle off. After that, the footsteps began to fade away. Like a storm that had blown itself out, the thundering tapered off into hollow thudding, growing farther and farther away.

"See anything Hiccup?" Astrid calls.

"Uh, no. I'm coming up."

Astrid shifted the board aside. The action sent not only a cloud of dust particles surging around, but also new shoots of fresh white light. Hiccup poked his head through and, shifting one foot forward, angled himself so he could boost himself up.

His toe brushed against something solid. It fell over with a quiet clank.

Hiccup ducked back into the hole again. He looked down at his feet to see a half-melted candle in a tiny holder. He tilted hi head at it, then glanced over his shoulder. Beyond the crisscrossing frame of two-by-fours that supported the staircase, Hiccup saw a small box-shaped area – a tiny room. A grey blanket lay unrolled and pushed against the left side of the cramped crawlspace, its pillow positioned in the crook of one corner.

His hand fell from the opening.

"Hiccup?" Astrid beckoned him.

Ignoring her, Hiccup swiveled away from the underbelly of the stairs toward the pocket of space, which was no bigger than the inside of a small walk-in closet. Stepping forward, Hiccup ducked and threaded his way through the support beams.

Drawings lined the plaster wall right next to the blanket, the pictures etched in a soft and loping hand that Hiccup recognized right away. Some of the etchings had even been colored in paint.

The image of a horse seemingly made of smoke reared its head, eyes bugging, hooves pawing at the air. A patch of clouds lit by purple lightning rolled beside a tuft of white lilies, their heads dropping under crowns of raindrops. Black trees marked the center of the wall. Tall and pencil thin, their limbs tangled with one another to create a twisted net dotted with the limp bodies of shriveled leaves. Or were those birds?

Hiccup's eyes followed the sprawl of the mural to the images closest to the blanket's pillow. There, the likeness of a certain Night Fury seemed to hover just over the place where the sleeper might lay her head. The painted dragon had a bright and curious look on his face, his eyes beaming through the gloom, the perfect piercing hue of green ice.

Hiccup sank to kneel on a thin burgundy throw rug sprawled across the concrete floor. Nearby, a pack of matches lay on top of a pile of book, next to a brass dish filled with the ashen bodies of burned incense cones, their stale scent barely detectable.

A small wooden box sat aside beside the books, its sides and lid covered in bas-relief with delicate rose patterns. A short stack of parchment notebooks occupied the opposite corner, several sheets of loose paper sticking our around the edges. A mug full of pens, pencils, charcoal sticks, and paintbrushes say sandwiched between the notebooks and a bin full of multicolored paint tubes.

Locating another candle, Hiccup took the box of matches, struck one, and lit the wick.

Warm flickering light filled the space, sending shadows leaping up the walls and across the slanted ceiling. He passed the candle across the carved wooden box. The sputtering light revealed the fancy lettering of a name engraved into the lid. Hiccup set the candle aside and reached to draw the wooden box toward him.

His fingertips traveled across the deep grooves and notches that formed the name _Hiccup_.

Hiccup opened the box. The hinged lid tilted back, held at ninety degrees by two violet strips of ribbon in either corner.

A stack of sketches littered the top layer of the box's contents. Beneath, Hiccup saw an assortment of odd trinkets and pieces of old jewelry.

His fingers went first to the sketches, and he pulled free the topmost picture, recognizing himself right away. It looked as though it was a snippet of him in action.

Dressed in his apron for the blacksmith shop, the faded tan one on top of his usual green tunic, his own image ignored him from the scratchy paper, his eyes focused on the sword as sparks flew off the metal as it scrapped against the rolling stone. His hair fell just at his eyebrows, his eyes narrowed in focus, the shimmers of sparks shadowing his face, making him look more, serious than usual.

All in all, he looked, attractive.

He remembered that day, when he wanted to test out his new invention that flung boas for him given his small muscular frame. Gobber had given him a rant on needing to stop all of 'this' then gesturing to all of him. Then after a rant of his own, Hiccup was bluntly ignored and given a sword to sharpen.

But how was someone able to draw this?

For a moment, he couldn't decide whether he should be freaked out or flattered – or if it was better to default to the ever-appropriate choice of mortified.

He flipped the drawing over so he wouldn't have to look at it anymore, when he noticed something written across the back.

Short lines scrawled in deep violet blazed against the tan rough parchment. Bringing the picture closer, Hiccup began to read. He felt his heart stammer a beat when he relied that it was a poem. About him.

_I keep telling myself_

_That you're _

_Just a boy._

_Another leaf blown across my path_

_Destined to pass on and shrivel into yourself _

_Like all the others._

_Yet despite my venom_

_You refuse to wither_

_Or fade_

_You remain golden throughout,_

_And in your gaze I am left to wonder if it is_

_Me alone_

_Who feels the fall._

Hiccup's hand sank, as though the picture had become too heavy for him to hold.

Like tiny knives, her words lacerated his heart.

Hiccup pushed the picture back inside the box, prepared to shut the lid and leave, but through his bleary, stinging vision, he caught sight of another photo in the stack.

At first he could glimpse on the edge, and it was the wisps of soft, honey-colored hair that made him draw it free.

The man in the sketch watched the artist with a steady pair of large eyes, his chin tilted slightly upward. His beauty, natural and free of modification, was undeniable.

His lips, shapely and petal pink, seemed as though they wanted to smile, even though they didn't his wavy blond hair lay in a gentle layers down his face, the soft flyaway ends disappearing behind him in what Hiccup saw was his horned helmet.

The man, slender and pale, wore a dark red tunic with a thick belt across his stomach, and metal pads placed on his shoulders.

Even though the physical resemblance was subtle, Hiccup knew that this was Haymitch the Second, in hiccup form.

It was his eyes, the same hue of polished icy, that gave him away.

Taking a closer look, Hiccups began to notice faint lines showing through from the other side. Curls and slanted loops appeared in raised bumps around the edges, like braille, as if Jolene had pushed too hard with her pencil while writing.

Hiccup hesitated before flipping the photo over, afraid of what he might find. He turned it slowly, allowing the candlelight to reveal another poem.

Remembering the memory Hadrian had taken him too, Hiccup made the connection that Haymitch was a hiccup. Something about that fact was very important to Jolene, Lilith. And now, years later, she was still thinking of him, still holding on to the last remnants of his existence in her life.

Hiccup found himself reluctant to read even a single line. There was something about his poem that made him dread its message. Perhaps it was the title, presented like a simple salutation in a letter. "To Haymitch," it said at the top, the letters scriptlike and looping, written in her best hand.

Swallowing, Hiccup began to read.

_To Haymitch,_

_This subtle second self_

_Sheaf of me_

_Can do more than you ever could._

_Like you, it can leave_

_And go_

_Somewhere else._

_The night splits me in two._

_I disconnect-_

_Ti sink, to fall to, fly_

_And rage_

_Forever_

_And always without you._

Hiccup read the lines again and then again. From the craterlike feeling of emptiness the words themselves left within him, there bubbled up a familiar echo, a repetition of things heard and learned of in the past.

Second self?

Lucid dreaming. Astral projection.

Hiccup glanced back to Jolene's blanket as, all at once, its presence there held new meaning. His eyes returned to the mural on the wall, suddenly knowing that her canvas – her hideaway – stretched much farther than this room.

Hiccup pressed the picture of Haymitch facedown on the floor next to him, then picked up the remained of the stack. He flipped through the rest of the pictures slowly, one at a time. There were more people, each one of them resembling a hiccup in one way or another. Small muscles, and a very thin frame.

For the first time since Hadrian had shown him the memory, something clicked in Hiccup's head.

Jolene, Lilith, always targeted hiccups.

None of the people he'd seen were different. They all looked similar. Unable to be sure if they all shared the same experiences, Hiccup felt relief as he had solved one piece of the elaborate puzzle that was, Jolene.

Lost in his thoughts, Hiccup hadn't realized that he'd flipped to the last sketch in the stack, one that showed a solitary stone face that peered out from an alabaster wall.

Hiccup looked closer, realizing that he knew that face. He recognized it from one of the houses in the abandoned street. It was one of the "green men" Hadrian had told him about, the group of gargoyle busts said to act as protectors against evil.

"Sleeping on the job," Hiccup muttered to the photo.

The face of the gargoyle glowered up at him. The thing looked almost human, except for the oversize, orblike eyes that stared sightlessly forward.

Hiccup sighed and gathered the photos. Before tucking them back into the box, he took a moment to sift through the remaining contents, a collection of bits and pieces strewn along the violet crushed-velvet lining. Broken bits of a mirror lay intermixed with antique jewelry, buttons, and brooches, and folded slips of . . . sheet music?

Hiccup snatched up one of the papers. He was about to unfold it when he noticed the glimmering object that had lain beneath, concealed.

A lady's elaborate hair com, encrusted with amethyst gemstones, winked at him in the candlelight. Hiccup dipped his hand back into the box and lifted the comb free. He held it up for inspection and it sparkled in his grasp, as if each jewel held its own glowing ember within.

He had seen this come before, but where?

His Dad's voice suddenly muffles through the air, buzzing the wood in long pulses.

"Yeah?" Hiccup called back.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I actually found something."

"Well, just bring it up, Hiccup. I don't want you down there anymore."

Hiccup returned the comb to the box. He laid the stack of photos on top and then closed the lid. Carefully he slid the box back into its original place against the wall.

Dusting himself off, Hiccup stood.

"I'm coming out." With that, he blew out the candle, and went to the narrow hole in the stairs.

He pulled himself out, replacing the plank before turning to face the groups of Vikings.

"What did you see down there?" Fishlegs asked. "Bodies?"

Hiccup looked to him in amusement, but shook his head. "I found something very interesting down there. And I think with a little help, we can piece together why Jolene's after me." He said.

"Grandmamma?" Gobber suggests.

Hiccup nods, "And a little extra."

That night, after the feast in the Great Hall, Hiccup and Stoick gathered Astrid and the others and Grandmamma, meeting at Hiccup's house to finally put together the jagged pieces of Jolene's puzzle.

Grandmamma sat at one of the chairs of the kitchen table, along with Stoick and Gobber. Fishlegs sat in an available stool close to the fire, Astrid deciding to stand near the stairs. Despite Snotlout's and the twins' absence, Hiccup explained all the information he had obtained with Grandmamma's visit earlier that day. He avoided the incidents with Hadrian and the box, wanting to have backup before he goes into detail.

Hiccup now stands at the head of the small uneven circle everyone had unknowingly created as they huddled in Hiccup's home.

"You still haven't told us what you found down there Hiccup." Fishlegs says as he nervously fiddles with his fingers.

"I'm waiting for someone." Hiccup said, knowing his doing in covering up the identity was less than obvious.

"Who? Dare I ask?" Astrid goes along.

"Look, this is only person who has truly helped me. And despite everything, he's probably the only one who holds the key to the way between worlds."

"Please tell me it's not . . ." Fishlegs question dissolved in his mouth as the floorboards above them creaked and moaned.

Hiccup had a feeling everyone knew who he was talking about, maybe it was just their wishful thinking that prevented them from stating, what should be obvious.

Taking a deep breath, Hiccup walked toward the stairs, keeping them in the corner of his eye as he spoke. "Look, you're the only one who knows how to beat her. You've scrambled up everything in my head, and now I don't even know what facts are right anymore."

Gobber leans in to Stoick and whispers. "I never thought it looked as crazy as people describe, but seeing it now, he looks like a loon."

"You were the one who warned me. And you showed me something, that I don't know who it connects to me, but it does. So please, I need your help. You're the only other person who can see what I see."

There was a moment of silence. The only sound in anyone's ears was the crackling of the firewood. It casted ominous shadows all across the woodwork and practically shadowed the staircase. Hiccup eagerly stared at them, expecting a blob of darkness to snake out and rise up and morph into Hadrian.

Moments passed, and he still didn't show. Hiccup's hope began to dwindle and contort into fear. What if he got captured, he thought. It makes sense since all of the defiance he's done toward Jolene. It scares Hiccup more knowing that Hadrian has the ability to come and go in the dream and real world, so if he was captured, then Hiccup had lost his one solid link between the two dimensions.

Hiccup sighed and turned away from the stairs.

"Who've thought we'd be together like this." He whispered in the corrosive hiss that never failed to set Hiccup on edge.

All at once, everyone turned to the far corner of the room. There, dressed in all black, the side of his face containing the jagged hole concealed as he faced them from the other side, one shoulder pressed to the wall, feet crossed in a relaxed position. A smug smile on his face.

"You!" Stoick growled. Then immediately, Stoick grabbed an available sword from a barrel and charged the demon.

"Dad no! Stop!" Hiccup cried.

As Stoick swung the sword down, intending on slicing Hadrian straight down the middle, Hadrian's body loosened into violet wisps and drifted toward Hiccup. At the last minute, he spiked upward and took solid shape again, his back pressed into one high corner his arms outspread to brace himself, heels planted against the wall behind him, making him look like an enormous spider. Putting himself out of Stoick' batting range.

"Dad!" Hiccup cried. Then at the last minute, Hiccup grabbed his ornate shield and blocked Stoick's sword. "Back . . . Off!" he howled as he pushed off his father's blade and slamming it into Stoick's gut so it sent him back. "Don't hurt him!"

Everyone stares at Hiccup in shock, but Hiccup keeps his stern face as he feels Hadrian jump down from the corner and walk up behind him. Hiccup's hair stands on end, but if he had to face facts, he felt more secure with Hadrian by his side since he was the only other person that knows what Hiccup's seen and possibly holds the answers on what to do.

"Hiccup . . .?" Stoick utters to him.

Hiccup softens his gaze and lowers his shield. "Dad, I know Hadrian's done horrible things in the past, and I know he didn't exactly make a good reunion with you, Astrid." He gestures to the blond who continually gives Hadrian a glare of absolute loathing. "But, he's the only other person who truly understands what I'm going through. He's actually helped me, and . . ."

Hiccup gazes back over his shoulder at the figure clad in black.

"I trust him."


End file.
